Hail and Flood Catastrophe in Western Thrace

Press Office of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF)- Witten, 08 August 2005

Hail and Flood Catastrophe in Western Thrace

Heavy rain showers and hail in the Turkish settlement region in Greece Komotini have caused big damages. The rain showers have caused the largest damages in the villages of Bulduklu, Kalfa, Demirciler and Barakli, but fortunately, there have been no losses of lives. In the village of Bulduklu, hails, which were so big like a tennis ball, fell on the houses which cannot be used anymore. In the village of Kalfa, there is a big material damage. The Advisory Council of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority and the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) are going to start an aid campaign.

Heavy rain showers and hail in the region of Komotini in Greece, where many Turks find themselves, have caused big material damages. Heavy rain showers which had begun on Friday in the region, and hails which had sometimes reached the size of a tennis ball, destroyed many houses that they cannot be used anymore. Since crop fields have been damaged, and large numbers of small animals died, hard days are expecting the village people. The only consolation is that the flood and hail have not caused any loss of life.

In order to visit the victims of the catastrophe on location, the ABTTF-Delegation composed of the President Halit Habipoglu, Mustafa Kasap, Engin Ismail, Sami Yusuf and Hayati Habipoglu cancelled its visit programme to the Fair of Secek, which had been planned and fixed before. The-ABTTF Delegation visited the villages of Bulduklu and Kalfa, and expressed the village people its condolences. After the visit, the President of ABTTF, Halit Habipoglu, made a statement, and said: “The poor infrastructure in the Turkish regions, which has been neglected for years, has deepened this unforeseen catastrophe, and our countrymen, whose houses have been flooded, cannot even meet their daily needs. The minority village people, who are oppressed under large amount of debts, do not have enough financial power to cover this material damage. We appeal the Greek government and our deputy from the governing party, Ilhan Ahmet, to act at once in order that urgent aid to the region is executed.” The Executive Board of ABTTF announced a statement that the aid campaign, which was going to be organized by the Minority Advisory Council for the flood victims, was supported, and appealed the Western Thrace Turkish immigrants, who were making their holidays in Western Thrace, to visit the flood victims, and help them. In the statement, ABTTF addressed to the authoritative persons of the Greek government, and appealed them to help at once the persons facing the flood catastrophe, to repair the destroyed houses, to compensate the losses of small animals, and to defer the debts of the village people to the following years.