ABTTF: Stylianidis continued his discourse distorting the facts about the Turkish community
BTTF President: “Stylianidis once again distorted the facts about our community, ignored the systematic violation of our community’s rights, educational and religious autonomy for years, and tried to present it as if there it is something that does not exist’’.
New Democracy (ND) Party Rodopi MP Evripidis Stylianidis hosted the students and teachers at the public high school in Sapes (Şapçı) and Celal Bayar Turkish Minority Secondary and High School in Komotini at the Greek Parliament last week.
In a statement he made to the students of Celal Bayar Turkish Minority Secondary School and High School during his visit, Stylianidis indicated that this school symbolises respect for the freedom of education of the Minority, and that today in (Western) Thrace, Christians and Muslims live freely and peacefully and produce together, by building an open society model, creating a positive atmosphere. He claimed that they had taken many steps against discrimination.
“Our Region’s MP Stylianidis once again distorted the facts about our community, ignored the systematic violation of our community’s rights, educational and religious autonomy for years, and tried to present it as if there it is something that does not exist.
Stylianidis himself knows very well that although we constitute the majority of the population in the prefecture of Rodopi, there is only one Turkish minority secondary and high school compared to 25 state secondary schools and high schools.
The building issue and the imposition of double-shift schooling in the only Turkish minority secondary and high school in prefecture of Xanthi, which was also brought to the attention of the European Commission through a question for written answer, have been continuing for years.
Our primary schools are being closed one by one every year, contrary to our educational autonomy, and our demand for bilingual minority kindergartens has been ignored for years. While we had 226 primary schools in 2003, this number has decreased to 90 in the 2023-2024 school year! While there are 141 state kindergartens in the prefectures of Rodopi and Xanthi, there is not a single Turkish minority kindergarten!
While these facts are obvious, Stylianidis alone continues to believe in the perception he is trying to create about our community and Western Thrace!”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
