Habipoğlu: “We want the same rights being demanded for the Greek Orthodox minority”
President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF), Halit Habipoğlu, stated that the rights Greece is demanding from Türkiye for the Greek Orthodox minority should also be granted to the Turkish community in Western Thrace.
Habipoğlu referred to the speech made by New Democracy (ND) MP and Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO), Maximos Charakopoulos, at the reopening ceremony of the Panagia Church in Bozcaada, where Charakopoulos said, “We would like to see the revival of the Greek presence in Bozcaada.”
Habipoğlu said:
“While the historic church in Bozcaada, where a very small number of Greek Orthodox minority members live, has been reopened for worship, our motherland [Türkiye] has once again set an example for our country [Greece] in this regard.
During the service, Charakopoulos expressed his wish for an increase in the Greek population in Bozcaada.
As the Turkish community in Western Thrace, we also want our existence to be immediately acknowledged by our country and to be treated equally.
As Greek citizens, we pay our taxes and contribute to the development of our region, Western Thrace.
We demand from our country the same rights being requested from Türkiye for the Greek Orthodox minority, with whom we share the same fate under the Treaty of Lausanne.
This is what befits our country, which defines itself at every opportunity as the cradle of democracy and is one of the oldest members of the European Union.”
