Today is World Human Rights Day!

ABTTF President Halit Habip Oğlu: Turkish Minority of Western Thrace has been facing discrimination and human rights violations in every area of life in Greece which is boasting of being the “birthplace of democracy”

Today, 10 December, is the Word Human Rights Day! Human Rights Day is held on 10 December every year, the date the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. In 1950, the General Assembly declared 10 December as Human Rights Day.

In her statement for Human Rights Day, 10 December 2013, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said the Vienna Declaration adopted at the World Human Rights Conference in 1933 in Vienna led to the creation of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, add-ing the Vienna Declaration crystallized the principle that human rights are universal, and committed States to the promotion and protection of all human rights for all people, regardless of their politi-cal, economic and cultural systems. Pillay stated the UN Human Rights Office will continue to work with all our partners to try to prevent human rights breaches from occurring noting, the vision and goals formulated 20 years ago in Vienna are still valid and they are still worth fighting for now - over the next 20 years - and beyond. “We can - and we must - do better.” so Pillay.

On the occasion of the World Human Rights Day, Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF), stated: “On the World Human Rights Day, the date the significance of human rights are emphasized, the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace is facing dis-crimination and human rights violations in every area of life in Greece which is boasting of being the “birthplace of democracy”. Our minority is denied the right to identify itself as “Turkish”, and our associations having the word “Turkish” in their titles have been banned or the new ones have been denied the registration. The right to autonomy entitled us in the areas of religion and education has been completely devastated. The Greek State does not recognize our Muftis freely elected by us as our religious leaders, and on the contrary, it assigns by the use of newly enacted law religious offi-cials to serve at public schools and mosques under the authority of Muftis it appointed. We are denied to establish bilingual kindergartens within our minority schools, and minority children are be-ing obligated to attend public kindergartens where it is instructed only in the Greek language. We as the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace urge our country Greece to regard the diversities within its borders as richness, to restore or status and rights and to comply with the contemporary human and minority rights, norms and values by respecting our diverseness and without otherizing us, but first and foremost not to shut the dialogue channels with us.”

Image: http://at20.ohchr.org/materials.html