Bornovas criticizes misuse of development funds in Western Thrace
Retired Ambassador Vasilis Bornovas has raised concerns over the mismanagement of development funds allocated for Western Thrace, arguing that the resources have not been used as intended.
Speaking on the Militaire News YouTube channel, Bornovas stated that the development funds earmarked for the region were meant to strengthen social cohesion and increase the presence of the Greek state, but instead, they have been distributed among certain businesspeople, sometimes without any real business activity involved.
He emphasized that this negligence poses a broader threat to Greek foreign policy, especially at a time when Turkey is expanding its influence in the region through economic and cultural diplomacy. Bornovas warned that Greece is missing critical opportunities to assert its own presence in Western Thrace.
In response, Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF), criticized Bornovas’s remarks, interpreting them as implicitly targeting the Turkish minority in the region.
“Bornovas’s comments about strengthening social cohesion in Western Thrace are, in essence, linked to the exclusion of our community from the distribution of funds—despite the fact that we form the majority in the Rhodope region and nearly half the population in İskeçe,” Habip Oğlu said. “This is blatant discrimination.”
He called for a comprehensive and inclusive development strategy, stressing that Western Thrace is one of the most economically disadvantaged regions in the European Union, and that funds must be distributed fairly, without exclusion.
