Radio station Çınar FM belonging to the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace in Greece attacked

Halit Habip Oğlu: “This ugly attack on our radio station Çınar FM, which directly aimed at the freedom of expression and media of our minority, intended to silence the voice of our minority.”

The first and only Turkish language news radio station Çınar FM of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace, which is based in Komotini, Greece, was attacked. The main antenna of Çınar FM, which was established by the persons belonging to the Turkish minority, was intentionally damaged by unidentified persons. Due to the major damage of the main antenna following the attack, Çınar FM will be broadcasting temporarily through the spare antenna until the completion of repair works.

The Çınar FM officials stated, a similar attack took place in the recent past and during this attack in January 2015, both the antenna and the transmitters of Çınar FM were damaged.

“As ABTTF representing the Western Thrace Turks living in Europe, we strongly condemn this atrocious attack on our radio station Çınar FM. Çınar FM is a radio station of news, culture and information that has been successfully broadcasting for years within democratic and legal rules. This attack on Çınar FM broadcasting in Turkish is in fact an attack aimed at silencing the voice of our minority, targeting the expression and media freedom of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace. The perpetrators must be seized and brought to justice at once. The Greek authorities should actively take measures to prevent such and similar attacks against freedom of expression and media of our minority so that these will not be repeating in the future, and to settle the culture of tolerance for different voices in our country Greece” said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).