ABTTF pays working visit to Strassbourg
The Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) paid a working visit to Strasbourg on 25-26 June 2024 in parallel with the Summer Plenary Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
During the working visit where ABTTF President Halit Habip Oğlu was accompanied by ABTTF International Relations Director Melek Kırmacı, Habip Oğlu expressed the current problems of the Turkish community in Western Thrace during his meetings with the PACE member parliamentarians.
In the press release issued by ABTTF on the issue, the following statements were made:
"In the framework of his visit to Strasbourg, Habip Oğlu focussed on meetings with the representatives of our motherland, the Republic of Turkey, in PACE;
He informed the PACE Turkish Delegation about the important developments in Western Thrace. In this context, Habip Oğlu held meetings at different times with AK Party MP Yıldırım Tuğrul Türkeş, Chairman of the PACE Turkish Delegation and AK Party MPs Mustafa Canbey, Meryem Göka; CHP MPs Namık Tan, Yunus Emre, Gökçe Gökçen and Aysu Bankoğlu, MHP MPs Konur Alp Koçak and Pelin Yılık, İYİ Party MP Mehmet Akalın.
During the meetings Habip Oğlu shared the latest developments on the Bekir Usta group of cases regarding the violation of the freedom of association of the Turkish community in Western Thrace, which has been waiting for 16 years to be implemented, shared the decision of the Committee of Ministers on 11-13 June and stated that Greece is following a strategy to prolong the process by not implementing the ECtHR judgments. Habip Oğlu stated that the closure of the Western Thrace Fenerbahce Culture and Sports Association by the court is another violation of the freedom of association and added that similar violations will continue to occur as long as the Bekir Usta case group judgements are not implemented.
Habip Oğlu also stated that the recent EP elections and the votes won by the Friendship, Equality and Peace (FEP) Party, the political party of the Turkish community in Western Thrace, are proof of the Turkish community in Western Thrace. Habip Oğlu said that when the reflection of the electoral success of the FEP Party in the politics and media in Greece is analysed, the Turkish community is shown as a threat to the national integrity. Habip Oğlu underlined that Greece denies the existence and identity of the Turkish community in Western Thrace and continues to marginalise it with hate speech in politics and mainstream media."
