ABTTF highlights Western Thrace Turks' rights issues at ALDE group meeting in Strasbourg
At the ALDE Group session during the Council of Europe’s Spring Assembly, ABTTF presented key rights violations faced by the Turkish minority in Western Thrace.
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On Wednesday, April 9, 2025, the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) delivered a comprehensive presentation on the challenges facing the Turkish minority in Greece during the meeting of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Group, held as part of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s (PACE) Spring Session in Strasbourg.
Hosted by ALDE Group Chair Iulian Bulai of Romania, the session welcomed ABTTF’s Director of International Relations, Melek Kırmacı, who outlined fundamental issues faced by the Turkish community of Western Thrace, including the denial of ethnic identity, restrictions on the right to association, and the erosion of autonomy in education.
Kırmacı emphasized that despite the guarantees provided under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne granting autonomy in education and religious affairs, this structure has been systematically undermined over time.
The presentation criticized the continued refusal to recognize the community’s Turkish identity and highlighted the long-standing legal battle surrounding organizations with "Turkish" in their names, such as the Xanthi Turkish Union, the Evros Minority Youth Association, and the Rhodope Turkish Women’s Cultural Association. ABTTF drew attention to the Bekir Usta and Others case and reminded attendees that European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rulings in favor of these associations have gone unenforced by Greece for 17 years.
Ahead of the Committee of Ministers’ review in June 2025, ABTTF urged for the immediate and full implementation of these rulings, accusing Greece of deliberately prolonging the process.
On education, ABTTF underlined the absence of bilingual Turkish kindergartens in the region and the significant drop in the number of Turkish primary schools—from 188 in 2011 to just 86 in the 2024–2025 school year—signaling a threat to the minority’s educational autonomy.
Issues in secondary education were also highlighted, particularly the long-standing infrastructural problems at the Xanthi Turkish Minority High School. Due to jurisdictional disputes between the Ministry of Education and the Municipality of Xanthi, no progress has been made, and the demand for a new school building remains unmet.
ABTTF concluded the presentation by appealing to ALDE parliamentarians, stressing that the rights violations in Western Thrace are part of broader rule of law concerns in Greece, also documented by the EU Commission and international civil society reports. The Federation called on PACE to take a principled stand and implement concrete actions to address the human rights violations against the Western Thrace Turkish community.
