ABTTF participated in the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting 2012

During the meeting ABTTF and BTAYTD brought the problems of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace on the agenda

The Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) participated from 2 to 3 October 2012 in the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting 2012 organized by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The Director of International Affairs of ABTTF, Melek Kırmacı, member of the ABTTF International Affairs Department, Funda Reşit and member of the Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association (BTAYTD) Pervin Hayrullah represented the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace at the meeting held in Warsaw.

ABTTF: The law no. 318/2006 has brought problems and in the new school year 22 children were not enrolled in the Minority primary school as they did not attend public kindergarten

During the working session entitled “rights of persons belonging to national minorities” in the afternoon on 2 October, Melek Kırmacı uttered the problem of bilingual minority kindergartens in the framework of right to education in mother language of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace. Kırmacı reported on the enrollment problem broke out in the Turkish Minority Primary School in Echinos (Şahin) village, saying the school principal, Hasan Kurak was referred to the disciplinary board by the state inspectorship of the Ministry of Education and got an administrative warning as he admitted all those children to the first grade of the school, who did not attend the public kindergarten where the education language is only in Greek. Kırmacı called on the Greek State to allow the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace to establish bilingual minority kindergartens.

ABTTF and BTAYTD: Following the entry of Golden Dawn to the Greek Parliament, a marked increase in hate-motivated attacks has been observed

During the working session entitled “tolerance and non-discrimination” on 3 October, Funda Reşit stated the deep economic crisis in Greece fuelled the far-right politics, saying there is an increasing trend in hate-motivated attacks against migrants and asylum seekers, most of whom are Muslims, and the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace has become a vulnerable target of far-right and/or extremist groups. Reşit noted the supporters of the ultra-nationalist political party Golden Dawn attacked the Komotini Turkish Youth Union in August 2012. In response to the statements of ABTTF, Greece alleged the incidents in Western Thrace were only single attacks.