ABTTF President: “As our Prime Minister pointed out, as the Turkish community in Western Thrace, we are a bridge of friendship and peace between our country and our motherland, and we believe that if the government shows the will, our issues will definitely be solved through dialogue and good will. At this point, we invite our Prime Minister, as the head of the government, to take responsibility immediately.”
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis paid an official visit to Ankara on 13 May 2024, upon the invitation of the President of the Republic of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Prime Minister Mitsotakis met with President Erdoğan at the Presidential Complex in Beştepe. After the meeting, President Erdoğan and Prime Minister Mitsotakis held a joint press conference.
Indicating that rapprochement and cooperation are for the benefit of the people of the two countries, President Erdoğan also touched upon the Turkish community in Western Thrace in his speech. Noting that they perceive the minority as a bridge of human friendship between the two countries, Erdoğan explained the following: “We expect the positive atmosphere in our relations to contribute to meeting the rights of our Turkish minorities and compatriots in Greece. The Turkish minority in Greece and the Greek minority in Türkiye are the building blocks of our human and cultural richness. Increasing the peace and welfare of minorities will positively affect our relations. I expressed our expectations for the improvements required by international law in the situation of the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace’’.
In his speech, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis thanked him and his delegation for the hospitality shown to him and responded to President Erdoğan’s words about the Turkish community in Western Thrace. Stating that he sincerely believes that the minorities in Greece, which were determined by the Treaty of Lausanne, are a bridge of friendship between the two peoples, Mitsotakis added the following: “Although it has significantly shrunk in terms of population, the Greek minority enriches the cultural and social life of Türkiye. However, in order to continue this, it needs the help of the Turkish state. In Thrace, our Christian and Muslim citizens live in harmony with the equal opportunities provided to them by Greece and the European Union. I can assure you that I, too, remain fixed on this goal. As I said, the definition of the minority as a religious minority is clearly determined in the Treaty of Lausanne. Ensuring the peace of the Muslim minority in Thrace by the Greek state is possible by implementing equality before the law. At the same time, some special precautions are being taken for Muslims in our country. We see the active participation of the Muslim minority in Greek political and cultural life as a success. It would be great if the ever-decreasing Greek minority in Türkiye had the same situation.”
“Despite the differences of opinion and disagreements on some basic issues, it is gratifying and promising for the future of relations between the two countries that the leaders of our motherland and our country have declared that they want to continue to stay at the dialogue table. However, the Prime Minister of our country unfortunately once again went down the path of denying the existence and identity of our community at the meeting in Ankara, as this was the case at the meeting held in Athens last December. Prime Minister Mitsotakis, who mentioned the ‘‘Greek minority’’ in our motherland and emphasised ethnic identity in his speech, ignored our Turkish identity by using the phrase ‘‘Muslim minority in Thrace’’ when it comes to us. However, as our Prime Minister himself knows very well, the phrase ‘‘non-Muslim minorities’’ is included in the Treaty of Lausanne alone and only. We would like to remind our Prime Minister of this fact once again. Our Prime Minister claims that our community actively participates in Greek political and cultural life with equal opportunities provided by our country and the European Union, but in reality, the opposite is happening. The educational and religious autonomy of our community, guaranteed by the Treaty of Lausanne, have been largely usurped today. Our country, which has not applied the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights with respect to our three associations for the past 16 years despite all the warnings of the Council of Europe continues to disregard international law and the principle of the rule of law. As our Prime Minister pointed out, as the Turkish community in Western Thrace, we are a bridge of friendship and peace between our country and our motherland, and we believe that if the government shows the will, our issues will definitely be solved through dialogue and good will. At this point, we invite our Prime Minister, as the head of the government, to take responsibility immediately”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
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