Sotiris Valden: Recognizing the minority as Turkish is a necessity of democracy

SYRIZA European Policy Committee expert Sotiris Valden noted that recognizing the minority in Western Thrace as Turkish is a requirement of democracy.
Sotiris Valden, an expert and academician of the European Policy Committee of the Radical Left Alliance in Greece (SYRIZA), noted that recognizing the minority in Western Thrace as Turkish is a requirement of democracy.
In the article he published, "Recognition of the minority in Western Thrace as Turkish is an international responsibility and a necessity of democracy." He pointed out that this would also contribute to the development of relations with Τürkiye .
Sotiris Valden, describing the policy that Greece should follow towards the minority, stated that "the minority has the right to define their own ethnic identity, the Turks living in the region are employed as police and judges like the Greeks, the Turkish signage can be kept in shops and streets, the minority has the right to choose their own mufti.
He pointed out that factors such as increasing the quality of Turkish education and developing policies aiming to bring the living standard of the minority closer to the national average are necessary.
Stating that the existence of Turks in Thrace is known by everyone, but it is not mentioned because it contradicts the national interests of Greece, Valden reminded that the minority in Thrace was also defined as Turkish by the Greek state until the mid-1950s.
"Every minority has the right to define its own ethnic identity"
Underlining the right to self-identification at the center of international and European policies regarding minorities, Valden said:
"Every citizen and every minority has the right to define their own ethnic identity. If I define myself as Turkish or Macedonian, it means I am Turkish or Macedonian and the state must accept this as an individual or a minority."
Minority associations in Western Thrace were closed on the grounds that they had the word "Turkish" in their names.
Xanthi Turkish Union (ITB) founded in 1927, Komotini Turkish Youth Union (GTGB) founded in 1928, and Western Thrace Turkish Teachers' Union (BTTÖB) founded in 1936, in which the minority in Western Thrace is mentioned in the Treaty of Lausanne. It was closed in the 1980s on the grounds that it was defined as "Muslim" rather than "Turkish". While the expression "Turkish", which was on the signboards and report cards of minority schools for a while, was accepted by Greece, associations bearing the Turkish name were not allowed to operate in an official status after this date.
Meriç Province Minority Youth Association and Rhodope Province Turkish Women Cultural Association, whose establishments were rejected, brought the issue to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in 2005, together with the ITB that was closed. The court decided in its 2007 and 2008 decisions that the freedom of association had been violated.
While the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe closely monitors whether Greece implements the ECHR decisions, the Greek Parliament approved a law amendment in 2017 to pave the way for the implementation of the ECHR decisions, but the practice of not allowing the official activities of associations with Turkish names due to reservations in the law continued.
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, at the meeting held in Strasbourg in September 2021, examined the non-implementation of the ECHR decisions regarding Western Thrace Turkish Minority associations by Greece, and criticized Athens's attitude.