ABTTF attended the SPEAK UP! Conference in Brussels

The Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) participated on 6 May 2011 in Brussels in the high-level conference entitled “SPEAK UP! Freedom of Expression and Media in the Western Balkans and Turkey”. Ali Türkelli, Member of the ABTTF International Affairs and Lobbying Group represented the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace at the conference hosted by the European Commission.

Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament, began his speech by emphasizing democracy and freedom, and stated that similar to their role in protecting free market economy, states should protect pluralism in the media.

Following the speech of the EP President Buzek, Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission, took the floor and said that the EU-Member States had ratified all the international treaties related to the freedom of expression adding that the European Parliament and the European Commission would never allow any legislation that restricts freedom of expression.

Štefan Füle, European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, stated that political pressure on freedom of expression ought to be removed and the only way of accomplishing this would be defining a strong legal framework. Füle pointed out that conserving balance in this issue was very important adding that freedom of press should not be sacrificed while trying to prevent the insult. He also expressed that implementation of laws was at least of same importance as the laws themselves and called to show more sensitivity in this issue.

Dunja Mijatović, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, said that she had just come from Istanbul and shared with the conference participants her impressions about freedom of expression and media she gained there. Mijatović noted that the word “responsibility” meant usually in the first instance not criticizing the states and governments and another problem was the definition “balance”. Mijatović stated that the mission of the media was to uncover the failures and the media should not be “balanced” but direct, bold and investigative adding that the governments should realize that the media did not belong to them.

Mijatović: We follow closely the process related to the newspapers Gündem ve Millet

During the conference, Ali Türkelli, Member of the Member of the ABTTF International Affairs and Lobbying Group, debated with the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović and provided her with information on the recent developments related to the Turkish minority newspapers Gündem and Millet. Mijatović noted that she dealt very closely with the related issue and was aware of the details of the problem. She underlined the crucial importance of self-expression of minorities and said that they had received from the Greek authorities the first reply related to the decision of the Greek National Council of Radio and Television (ESR) on the Turkish minority radio station KRAL FM, but could not get any reply related to the issue of Gündem and Millet.

During the conference, Türkelli had also a talk with the Secretary General of the Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) Oliver Vujovic. On behalf of ABTTF, he thanked to Vujovic for the SEEMO press release on excessive fines imposed on the Turkish minority newspapers Gündem and Millet, and provided him with information on the other problems of the Turkish minority of Western Thrace in Greece, too.