ABTTF President: “On this special day marking the 73rd anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we demand that our country ends the violations of the fundamental rights and systematic discrimination suffered by the Turkish community in Western Thrace in Greece and to fully respect the principles of democracy and the rule of law.”
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 73 years ago on 10 December 1948, and two years later, in 1950, declared 10 December as International Human Rights Day. The 10th December is celebrated with various events all over the world every year as International Human Rights Day.
With the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which represents a turning point in the field of human rights, it has been declared that everyone has the same human rights and is equal without discrimination. The UN declared the theme of this year’s International Human Rights Day as “Equality – reducing inequalities, advancing human rights”.
In its statement, the UN indicated that the principles of equality and non-discrimination are central to human rights and that rooted discrimination affects the most vulnerable groups in societies, underlining the importance of a human rights-based approach to development.
“As ABTTF, we celebrate the International Human Rights Day on 10 December of all people. In the 73rd year of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is the most important document in the field of human rights and accepted by the whole world, the Turkish community in Western Thrace in Greece faces the most obvious violations of fundamental rights and systematic discrimination. In our country, where our right to define ourselves collectively is denied and our ‘Turkish’ identity is denied, our associations bearing the word ‘Turkish’ are banned. As in the case of the Committee for the Development of Thrace, our country seeks to completely eliminate the rights we have under the bilateral and international treaties at every opportunity and ignores the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with its policies and practices. We demand that our country cease the discrimination it applies to our community, respect the principles of democracy and the rule of law, and fulfil its obligations arising from the treaties related to our rights and freedoms”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
*Image: www.un.org
