“Golden Dawn” supporters with Greek flags in their hands drive by the Turkish villages in Xanthi

ABTTF President Halit Habipoğlu: Hate speech can turn into mutual acts of violence, the Government should take urgent action

A group of members of the Xanthi provincial organization of the extreme nationalist political party Golden Dawn (Chrysi Avgi), who carried Greek flags in their hands, drove by the Turkish villages in Xanthi by motorbikes and cars and organized so a kind of demonstration. According to the news of daily Birlik, the group drove in the evening of Sunday August 12 by the Turkish villages of Yenice, Beyköy and Okçular.

Xenophobia and intolerance in Greece has been rising following the entry of the Golden Dawn in the Greek Parliament. Attacks and actions, in which members or supporters of the Golden Dawn were involved, spread to Western Thrace. On 6 August, a group of nearly 150 members of the extreme nationalist political party Golden Dawn had marched towards the Komotini Turkish Youth Union and chanted slogans against Turkey and the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace, and thrown bottles to the garden of the association.

The Golden Dawn’s party office located in the central Athenian neighbourhood of Pagrati was set on fire on 13 August, with two petrol cans The attack was not loss of life, property damage occurred in the building. There was no loss of life but material damaged occurred in the building.

“The rising xenophobia and intolerance in Greece threats not only the migrants but also the ones with a different ethnic origin, language and religion who are all Greek citizens. The most obvious example of this situation is happening in Western Thrace. The Golden Dawn political party is the most important trigger of this threatened environment which is overwhelming the country. The killing of an Iraqi migrant and afterwards the arson attack against the party’s district office are giving the signal that the situation today can turn into mutual acts of violence. Thus the Greek Government should take urgent action.” said Halit Habipoğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).