Dear readers,
We left another election behind!
Before the election, I had made the following appeal: ‘‘Let’s be in Western Thrace on 21 May and let’s vote for our Turkish candidates by going to the polls!’’
After making this appeal, I came to my hometown, I went to the polls in my village and cast my vote.
36 political parties participated in the elections.
As a community, we have been present in the elections through candidacy from different political parties!
As a result of the elections, the ruling New Democracy Party received 40.79 percent of the vote, while the main opposition SYRIZA received 20.07 percent.
The biggest surprise of the elections was the 20 percent difference in votes between the government and the main opposition, because the election surveys did not say so.
While the country was painted to blue, the colour of New Democracy on the election map, only in Rodopi the map was painted to the colour of SYRIZA.
With the entry of Özgür Ferhat, a candidate from SYRIZA in Rodopi to Parliament, we increased the number of our deputies in Rodopi to two.
Özgür Ferhat, who was also a candidate from SYRIZA in 2019, received 5,384 votes, but Takis Haritou, the other candidate of SYRIZA, was elected as a member of Parliament, surpassing Özgür Ferhat by 410 votes.
Özgür Ferhat could not enter the Parliament with very little margin.
This time, we learned a lesson from 2019 as voters, we ensured that Özgür Ferhat received 12,680 votes.
Thus, a single place on the country’s electoral map was painted in the colour of SYRIZA and that is Rodopi.
In Xanthi, Hüseyin Zeybek and Burhan Baran were re-elected and entered Parliament.
In fact, Burhan Baran increased his votes compared to 2019.
3 deputies that are respectively representing Rodopi and Xanthi entered Parliament, 2 of these 3 deputies in both provinces are members of our community.
What does this mean?
Even though it is said that ‘‘There are no Turks in Western Thrace’’, the result of the elections clearly reveals our presence in the region and our power with the vote potential that we have.
For this reason, all political parties showed candidates from our community in the elections in our region.
We also cast our votes and show our power by going to the polls in the elections.
It was the same in this election.
We revealed our presence and power to our country’s rulers, political parties, and the people of the country, and we made our presence felt strongly as a community.
Our message is clear:
We exist!
We are here!
Even if you ignore our demands, you do not have the luxury of ignoring us in our region when the election day comes!
4 of the 6 deputies who will go to Parliament from Rodopi and Xanthi are from us!
The result is clear!
The election results on 21 May were not enough for any party to come to power, the elections will be held again in June!
Where did all the parties go wrong after the election, what should they do in the next elections, they will of course make an account of it!
While doing this, when they look at our region, they should keep in mind the election results map in our region!
Aware of the power of our community, they must understand that they cannot continue to ignore and turn a deaf ear to us!
Greetings and Yours sincerely,
Halit Habip Oğlu
ABTTF President
