ABTTF met Vice-President of the European Commission Viviane Reding

Problems of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority were explained from primary source at the meeting realized upon initiative of François Alfonsi, Member of the European Parlia-ment who visited Western Thrace in October 2012

Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) met European Commission Vice-President and Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding on 9 October 2013 under the premises of European Parliament in Strasbourg. At the meeting, organised upon initiative of François Alfonsi, Member of the European Parliament (France), ABTTF Presi-dent Halit Habipoğlu provided Ms. Reding in-depth information on problems of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority.

Member of the European Parliament François Alfonsi: Western Thrace Turkish Minority is in serious trouble!

At the meeting carried on between three parties, MEP François Alfonsi indicated that the visit he paid to the region a year ago provided him the opportunity to have first hand observations regarding the situation of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority. Having drawn attention on the importance of consultations with representatives and members of the minority, Alfonsi, affirmed the situation of the minority in region as very miserable. Alfonsi added that he was very much touched by the situa-tion he witnessed thus; he wanted to share this with Ms Reding.

Halit Habipoğlu: Minority’s autonomous status in religion and education has deliberately been wrecked by state

At the meeting held with presence of ABTTF Brussels Representation, ABTTF President Halit Habipoğlu stressed Minority’s autonomy in religion and education, which is guaranteed by Lausanne Treaty whereby the rights and status of the Minority were also defined, has deliberately been abro-gated by several national policies. In addition, Habipoğlu recalled that despite and since its accession to the EU in 1981, the Western Thrace Turkish Minority does not have the right to self-identification on collective means. As an outcome of this, the associations which include the word “Turk” in their titles are not authorised to establish in Greece. Regarding Minority’s problems in freedom of association, Habipoğlu informed despite the three decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which favour the re-establishment of the suspended associations, Greece still fails to execute the ECtHR decisions.

Having uttered Minority’s main problems in the field of education and religion, Habipoğlu explained that the Western Thrace Turkish Minority is perceived as “the other” in Greece and therefore, throughout the recent years the Minority became target to attacks of the racist groups.
Habipoğlu underlined that especially in the aftermath of neo-Nazi political party Golden Dawn’s election to the Hellenic Parliament, several hate motivated attacks have been directed to the prem-ises of Minority’s organisations and the Minority members have been subject to attacks organised by groups in support of Golden Dawn.

Having reiterated the awareness that the subject of national minorities are not within the compe-tence of the EU but of the EU Member States, Habipoğlu nevertheless signalled the very presence of peculiar situation to address national minorities at national level in order to obtain comprehensive and far-reaching solutions. For this reason, President Habipoğlu revealed that ABTTF works to-gether with Europe’s national minorities, which amounts to 100 million, under the roof of Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) and contributes to common efforts to reach a solution to national minorities’ problems at the EU level.