Victims of the 19th Article are on the agenda of Council of Europe

Mehmet Tekelioðlu, Justice and Development Party (AKP) Ýzmir MP, put a motion to the vote about the 19th Article of Greek Citizenship Law and victims of the 19th Article are now on the agenda of Council of Europe.

In the framework of the Executive Meeting of Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe held in February, the problems of the Western Thrace Turks and fraud on the Turkish minority due to the implementation of the 19th Article of the Greek Citizenship Law were conveyed to the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe in Strasbourg by a political delegation, in which Halit Habipoðlu, Chairman of Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe also took place.

Federation of Western Turks in Europe conveyed the problems of Western Thrace Turks to the Turkish parliamentarian during their previous meetings. Delegation voiced the problems of the Turkish minority in Western Thrace during their visit to Council of Europe in Strasbourg last week. They expressed the human rights violations in Greece, the member of the European Union, at the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe where 46 countries are represented. Mehmet Tekelioðlu, (Justice and Development Party, AKP, Ýzmir MP), member of Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe; gave a notice of question about the victims of the 19th Article of Greek Citizenship Law to Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu, Foreign Minister of Romania, chairman of Council of Ministers of Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe. Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe declared to give a written answer to the notice of question. Murat Mercan, Chairman of the Turkish Delegation at Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Eskiþehir MP, was also present at the meeting.

Halit Habipoðlu emphasized the point that a poltical solution for the problems of the victims had to be found as soon as possible. They conveyed the problems to the parliamentarians as well as diplomats. Halit Habipoðlu claimed Greek Parliament to give the citizenship rights of the victims, who were denaturalized as a result of unfair implementations basing on racist discrimination. Habipoðlu requested the Council of Europe and Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe to force Greece to make a positive step for a long lasting solution.

The Greek Citizenship Law which discriminates between “being from Hellenistic race and not from Hellenistic race” and denaturalizes the citizens who are predicted to have left the country without the intention to come back again came into force in 1955 and was repealed in 1998 as a result of international pressures.

It is predicted that mentioned Law victimized 80 thousand Turkish during the implementation period and fraud on the Turkish minority has not been corrected yet. ABTTF has activated many Europe-centered institutes to find a solution for this problem and with the project “Victims of the 19th Article” that was initiated one year ago.