FUEN Member Turkish Organizations participate in UN Minority Issues Forum
On November 28-29, 2024, Turkish organizations affiliated with the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) attended the 17th Session of the United Nations (UN) Forum on Minority Issues in Geneva, Switzerland.
Themed "Representation and Self-Representation of Minorities in Public Spaces and Discourses," the session included participation from FUEN’s Working Group of Turkish Minorities (TAG), represented by the Western Thrace Turks and the Ahıska Turks. The Western Thrace Turks were represented by the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) and the Association of Graduates of Western Thrace Minority High Schools (WTMUGA), while the International Society of Ahıska Turks "VATAN" represented the Ahıska Turks. FUEN Vice President Olivia Schubert also attended the session.
FUEN highlighted the need for legal mechanisms or agreements to safeguard national minorities and advocated for transforming the UN Forum on Minority Issues into a permanent platform.
ABTTF and WTMUGA addressed the challenges faced by the Western Thrace Turkish community in education, noting that the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne grants them the right to establish and manage their own schools. They reported systematic government interventions dismantling this autonomy, including the denial of applications to open bilingual Turkish-Greek kindergartens and the closure of Turkish primary schools, which have declined from 194 in 2008 to 86 in 2024. They called on Greece to restore their educational autonomy immediately.
The International Society of Ahıska Turks "VATAN" shed light on the forced deportation of Ahıska Turks from Georgia in 1944 under Stalin's orders and their current diaspora across nine countries. They urged Georgia to honor its commitments to the Council of Europe, ensuring realistic and inclusive mechanisms for the return of Ahıska Turks to their ancestral homeland.
