Interview with Ismail Rodoplu on 'January 29'
Western Thrace
Sun, 30 Jan 2022 13:04 GMT
Deputy Mufti of Komotini (Gümülcine), Fehim Ahmet, made an important sharing about January 29, which is a turning point in the struggle for the rights of Western Thrace Turks.Deputy Mufti of Komotini, Fehim Ahmet, shared the interview he made with the lat...
Deputy Mufti of Komotini (Gümülcine), Fehim Ahmet, made an important sharing about January 29, which is a turning point in the struggle for the rights of Western Thrace Turks.
Deputy Mufti of Komotini, Fehim Ahmet, shared the interview he made with the late İsmail Rodoplu, one of the important leaders of Western Thrace Turks, 21 years ago, for Mihenk Magazine, one of the important publications in the history of Western Thrace Turkish press, on his social media account.
On the anniversary of the relevant events, we share with you the interview titled "On January 29", which is an archive for future generations and where important information about the events of January 29, 1988 and 1990 is shared.
Publication of Deputy Mufti Fehim Ahmet:
ON THE OCCASION OF JANUARY 29...
I am sharing the interview I made with the late İsmail Rodoplu 21 years ago in Mihenk Magazine "On January 29", based on the importance of the day. You will realize when you read whether anything has changed in the Muslim Turkish Minority of Western Thrace since then. On this occasion, today, on its 34th anniversary, I remember with gratitude those who took part in the struggle of our minority to seek rights, and contributed to and support by participating, and I wish Allah's mercy on those who passed away.
ON 29 JANUARY WITH İSMAİL RODOPLU
-What is the place of January 29 in the history of Western Thrace?
Rodoplu: January 29, 1988 and January 29, 1990. It is the date of the day when the Turkish Minority said STOP and YET against the administrators who for years saw all kinds of oppression and even persecution against the Western Thrace Turkish Community.
-What are the reasons that led the Western Thrace Turkish Minority to the 29 January 1988 March?
Rodoplu: Let me tell you, in outline, what the Western Thrace Turkish Community went through and how it came to January 29, 1988.
First of all, there was a state policy implemented by the Greek administrators of our country, and even by all political parties in alliance:
As if all these pressures were not enough, an attempt was made to stab our conscience. Officially, the 1926 Xanthi Turkish Union, the 1928 Komotini Turkish Youth Union and the 1936 Western Thrace Turkish Teachers Union, which were approved by the Greek Courts, were closed down in 1983 because the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was established, and the Supreme Court in Athens in November 1987 (Arios Pagos) decision that there are no Turks in Western Thrace was the last straw for Western Thrace Turks.
- Was there a special reason why January 29, 1988 was chosen?
Rodoplu: The selection of January 29, 1988, of course, has a significance and meaning. Because on Friday, January 29, 1988, Greek Prime Minister A. PAPANDREU and Prime minister of the Motherland Turkey T. ÖZAL was going to meet in Davos and hold bilateral talks.
The prime ministers of the two countries, who left us as a minority here and promised to keep us alive nationally, religiously and economically, would perhaps come together after 40 years. That's why we chose the day of January 29th.
- Who would lead the march, what happened about the formation of the march, were there any events that made you sad or happy?
Rodoplu: Before carrying out this march, the High Council of the Turkish Minority held a meeting at the Xanthi (İskeçe) Mufti Office under the chairmanship of the late Mufti of Xanthi Mustafa AĞA.
After the events and developments were evaluated at the meeting, it was decided that a minority-wide march would be held, although the date was not revealed.
Two days later, the Executive Committee determined the date of January 29, 1988, at the meeting held in Komotini (Gümülcine) Turkish Youth Union.
We announced to our society that we would disperse peacefully by writing leaflets on the day of the march, that after the Friday Prayer to be held at the Old Mosque, we would march to the Provincial Mansion, and by giving a memorandum to the governor explaining why we were marching and what we wanted.
In addition, we informed the police authorities in writing and verbally that we would hold such a march. On the evening of Thursday, January 28th, we held a meeting on the subject at the Association of High Graduates of all minority notables. Who will preside over this march?
All the notables of the minorities, including the old and new deputies, unanimously entrusted this valuable task to me. I thanked the friends for their trust and requested that two lawyers be given to me. Lawyer Hasan KAŞIKÇIOĞLU and Lawyer Hasan İMAMOĞLU were chosen to assist me. And I made a request from friends:
"Dear friends, for the first time in the history of the Turkish Minority, we will embark on such a large-scale march. God knows what we will encounter tomorrow. We will not be able to talk so easily tomorrow. Therefore, my sincere request from you is that we will do whatever the events require without hesitation. Okay? Okay."
We are called to the police station with lawyer Kaşıkşıoğlu. We were going to the chief of police with Kaşıkçıoğlu. They want this march to be postponed at all costs. Postponing it to another date because Papandreou and Özal were going to meet in Davos, it was not appropriate.
We said, "We can't say anything without consulting our friends," and we came back to the Higher Education Association with our friends.
We unanimously decided that the march would take place, and we went to the police chief and reported this. By making threatening words and gestures to me, "Mr. President, according to the information we have received, 30-35 thousand people will descend to Komotini, how will we manage them? If an incident occurs, if blood is spilled, you will be responsible, do you realize your responsibility? Go everywhere. your announcement has been postponed," he was threatening.
I just said: "My dear chief, the waters are flowing towards the sea, we cannot reverse it. Let those who bring the matter here think about it. We are already holding this march so that the two prime ministers will hear about our problems," and they gave me a copy of the decision banning January 29, 1988, March.
We went back to our friends again and read the latest situation and the decision of the police. All our friends said "there is no going back" and we said to meet tomorrow in front of the Old Mosque and we left.
It turned out that the police forces had kept all the village and city entrances and exits from midnight, not leaving anyone from place to place. We learned this later. We were telling those who called us on the phone that the march would take place from the specified place to the province, and that no one should believe the false and false news. Because the news that the march was postponed was spreading, right and left...
Close to Friday, January 29, our people started to gather in front of the old mosque and in the courtyard of the Turkish Youth Union, breaking through the police barricades and crossing the mountains. Tens of thousands of young Turkish people, from seven to seventy, men and women, old and young, filled the streets of Gümülcine (Komotini) in order to participate in this STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTS. Our people, who were wanted to be prevented by the police forces, were beaten and taken to the hospital, some of them were arrested, beaten, and taken to the police station.
The governor banned Friday prayers in the Old Mosque with an announcement. During my presidency, we went to the governor's office with a delegation consisting of then Pasok Deputy Ahmet Faikoğlu and New Democracy Deputy Lawyer Mehmet Müftüoğlu and other ex-deputies and condemned the governor's attitude, and we firmly did not welcome the brutal beating of our people who wanted to come to the city for a peaceful march by the police, and that it would be a heavy responsibility.
We informed the governor that since Friday prayers were banned in the Old Mosque, Friday prayers would not be held in any mosque. Regarding not performing Friday prayers in all our villages. We phoned and that was it.
The walk ended with our speeches on the balcony of Faikoğlu, Müftüoğlu and İmamoğlu's Dentist Ayşe Galip, especially myself, towards the evening. We told the chief of police that we would disperse only on one condition. "With the release of our kinsmen imprisoned in the police station..."
The chief of police fulfilled this condition and released our imprisoned kinsmen, and tens of thousands of Turkish people dispersed without incident. But what a shame that even when our people were dispersed, the police continued to beat our people, regardless of whether they were male or female.
-Have you had any memorable memories that made you happy?
Rodoplu: By the way, since you're asking, I'll tell you. There are a few points in Minority History that make me happy for the first time in such a well-attended march.
The Western Thrace Turkish Minority was so close to its people and leaders that I cannot describe it. A second; We were fighting against the decision and mind that denied our Turkishness, while the fascist groups that gathered us as a counter-strike force were swearing and shouting "G..... Turkos".
But no matter what, we first announced to the prime ministers of the two countries that there was an unfair practice against the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace, so there was a problem with both Turkey and Greece's public opinion.
There are many things in these events that I cannot and will not forget. But the most important thing is the reality of how Turkish society is and can be clamped together with a sign in the face of injustice.
-Opposite the 29 January 1988 March, there is also the 29 January 1990 events. How do you evaluate this?
Rodoplu: Of course, in order to remember these events that left their mark on the history of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority and to refresh our feelings of unity on this occasion, we held a minority-wide mawlid in the Old Mosque on January 29, 1989.
Thousands of minority members attended this mawlid and dispersed without incident, saying that they would meet at this time next year. I mean that our own people never cause unrest unless there is the intervention of our fanatical Greek compatriots, provoked by our rulers.
As for the 29th of January 1990...
Again, the Muslim-Turkish Minority of Western Thrace would celebrate the 29th of January in unity and solidarity with a mawlid al-Sharif in the Old Mosque, just like it did a year ago. But unfortunately, organizations and individuals who could not tolerate the existence of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority completely got the job out of control.
Those fanatical groups of people who had landed in Komotini to participate in the 29 January celebrations and gathered around the Old Mosque and the Turkish Youth Union were beaten with sticks and iron bars sent many to the hospital, destroyed and looted Turkish shops and stores.
My two Independent Trust List nominee friends, the late Dr. Sadik Ahmet and the Mufti of Komotini, elected by our society today, Ibrahim Serif, were sentenced to 18 months in prison by the Komotini (Komotini) Lowe Court on January 26, 1990 because they were taken to Thessaloniki DİYAVATA prison, the only and independent in the minority. As a member of parliament, the burden of this job inevitably fell on me.
The Metropolitan of Komotini and Maronia, Damaskinos, was provoking the fanatical Greeks by making speeches on local Greek radios, and was giving awards such as "Well done my palikarians, you will be written in history with golden letters with these heroisms you have shown".
In short, hundreds of our people were beaten, around 250 Turkish shops and workplaces were broken into and looted. The figure we deduced from the receipts brought to me by our shopkeepers whose shops were destroyed was around 150 million on that day's account. These were ugly events that did not befit our age, democracy, and human rights.
What happened then?
On behalf of the European Helsinki Wach Human Rights Watch, Prof. E. Sisby came to Komotini two days later and together with Atty. We toured the looted and broken stores with Adem Bekiroğlu. He toured the Turkish neighborhoods, listening to the people's own mouths, and published a lengthy report on the problems faced by the Turks of Western Thrace. A few days after that, Ms. Withman came to Komotini on behalf of the American World Human Rights Watch and learned the problems of the Turkish Minority closely and announced it to the world with a report.
-You were a member of parliament on January 29, 1990, what kind of problems did you experience?
Rodoplu: I and our society have faced very embarrassing events for humanity in our age. But we were never afraid, we were not intimidated, and we did not fall into despair. First, we believed in the righteousness of our cause, and then we trusted that Allah is with the oppressed, and also in the Motherland, which left us here as Turkish-Muslims.
-In this period, you are at the beginning of the events. You must have had important memories or observations. Would you like to share the most important of these with our readers?
Rodoplu: Incidentally, I should also point out that the Western Thrace Turkish Community, which has gone through a lot of troubles since the day it was a minority, has been very wet and dried up, does not get upset or frightened by such minor incidents. In both serious incidents, there were those who were beaten and those whose property was plundered.
As the person who was at the beginning of these events, no one came to complain to me, that is, he did not cry or show weakness. I congratulate the Turkish Community once again and embrace it with respect.
I would also like to underline that there was an incident that deeply saddened me in these events. As a MP Me, Sebahattin Emin (President of the Association of Western Thrace Minority Graduates) and Ahmet Hacıosman (President of the V.İ.H.) were summoned to the chief of police the day before January 29. There, they made us meet with a person who said that he was the Gendarme Inspector of East Macedonia and Thrace.
Among many threats, M. Emin Ağa from Xanthi said that if he came to Komotini, he would beat him to death (cursing him). When we three friends reacted to these words, he repeated that he would have "only him, Ağa" beaten badly, and the next day we saw that I was left behind the office of the GERÇEK NEWSPAPER that day because he was beaten to death with iron bars.
-What was the repercussion of January in the Greek and foreign press?
Rodoplu: In short, I can say that the repercussions of these events were great and wide, and we had the opportunity to make our voices heard throughout the world.
-It has been 11-13 years since January 29th. What about the determination of struggle of the society at that time and the determination to struggle today?
Rodoplu: Yes, 11-13 years have passed since these events. Since 1992, some of our administrators admitted that serious mistakes were made in the minority policy, and minor changes began to be observed. Although not as much as it was then, the serious problems of our society have not been solved. The problem of education, the problem of foundations, the problem of mufti is the most serious economic problem.
More than ten billion dollars of aid and investments came to our region from the European Union. The Turkish Minority has never benefited from these. It is not clear when it will be used.
As for our community's determination to struggle; community, the same community, events should not bring our community to that point. I fully believe that he is ready for stronger, more faithful struggles.
-Have you thought of making a book about the events of January 29 to shed light on the future?
Rodoplu: Yes, I intend to publish this example of the Western Thrace Turkish Community's struggle in the way of SEARCHING for RIGHTS as a booklet and pass it on to future generations.
[Fehim AHMET | Mihenk Magazine, Issue 3, p. 16, January-February 2001.]
Deputy Mufti of Komotini, Fehim Ahmet, shared the interview he made with the late İsmail Rodoplu, one of the important leaders of Western Thrace Turks, 21 years ago, for Mihenk Magazine, one of the important publications in the history of Western Thrace Turkish press, on his social media account.
On the anniversary of the relevant events, we share with you the interview titled "On January 29", which is an archive for future generations and where important information about the events of January 29, 1988 and 1990 is shared.
Publication of Deputy Mufti Fehim Ahmet:
ON THE OCCASION OF JANUARY 29...
I am sharing the interview I made with the late İsmail Rodoplu 21 years ago in Mihenk Magazine "On January 29", based on the importance of the day. You will realize when you read whether anything has changed in the Muslim Turkish Minority of Western Thrace since then. On this occasion, today, on its 34th anniversary, I remember with gratitude those who took part in the struggle of our minority to seek rights, and contributed to and support by participating, and I wish Allah's mercy on those who passed away.
ON 29 JANUARY WITH İSMAİL RODOPLU
-What is the place of January 29 in the history of Western Thrace?
Rodoplu: January 29, 1988 and January 29, 1990. It is the date of the day when the Turkish Minority said STOP and YET against the administrators who for years saw all kinds of oppression and even persecution against the Western Thrace Turkish Community.
-What are the reasons that led the Western Thrace Turkish Minority to the 29 January 1988 March?
Rodoplu: Let me tell you, in outline, what the Western Thrace Turkish Community went through and how it came to January 29, 1988.
First of all, there was a state policy implemented by the Greek administrators of our country, and even by all political parties in alliance:
- To force the Turks living in the lowland to migrate by taking their property (whatever the means)
- To assimilate our kinsmen living in the Balkan Branch (included in the forbidden zone) in the long run.
- By placing new populations in Western Thrace, whether from various regions of Greece or outside of Greece, to disrupt the population balance in favor of Greek origins and to provide all kinds of financial support in order to keep this population there.
As if all these pressures were not enough, an attempt was made to stab our conscience. Officially, the 1926 Xanthi Turkish Union, the 1928 Komotini Turkish Youth Union and the 1936 Western Thrace Turkish Teachers Union, which were approved by the Greek Courts, were closed down in 1983 because the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was established, and the Supreme Court in Athens in November 1987 (Arios Pagos) decision that there are no Turks in Western Thrace was the last straw for Western Thrace Turks.
- Was there a special reason why January 29, 1988 was chosen?
Rodoplu: The selection of January 29, 1988, of course, has a significance and meaning. Because on Friday, January 29, 1988, Greek Prime Minister A. PAPANDREU and Prime minister of the Motherland Turkey T. ÖZAL was going to meet in Davos and hold bilateral talks.
The prime ministers of the two countries, who left us as a minority here and promised to keep us alive nationally, religiously and economically, would perhaps come together after 40 years. That's why we chose the day of January 29th.
- Who would lead the march, what happened about the formation of the march, were there any events that made you sad or happy?
Rodoplu: Before carrying out this march, the High Council of the Turkish Minority held a meeting at the Xanthi (İskeçe) Mufti Office under the chairmanship of the late Mufti of Xanthi Mustafa AĞA.
After the events and developments were evaluated at the meeting, it was decided that a minority-wide march would be held, although the date was not revealed.
Two days later, the Executive Committee determined the date of January 29, 1988, at the meeting held in Komotini (Gümülcine) Turkish Youth Union.
We announced to our society that we would disperse peacefully by writing leaflets on the day of the march, that after the Friday Prayer to be held at the Old Mosque, we would march to the Provincial Mansion, and by giving a memorandum to the governor explaining why we were marching and what we wanted.
In addition, we informed the police authorities in writing and verbally that we would hold such a march. On the evening of Thursday, January 28th, we held a meeting on the subject at the Association of High Graduates of all minority notables. Who will preside over this march?
All the notables of the minorities, including the old and new deputies, unanimously entrusted this valuable task to me. I thanked the friends for their trust and requested that two lawyers be given to me. Lawyer Hasan KAŞIKÇIOĞLU and Lawyer Hasan İMAMOĞLU were chosen to assist me. And I made a request from friends:
"Dear friends, for the first time in the history of the Turkish Minority, we will embark on such a large-scale march. God knows what we will encounter tomorrow. We will not be able to talk so easily tomorrow. Therefore, my sincere request from you is that we will do whatever the events require without hesitation. Okay? Okay."
We are called to the police station with lawyer Kaşıkşıoğlu. We were going to the chief of police with Kaşıkçıoğlu. They want this march to be postponed at all costs. Postponing it to another date because Papandreou and Özal were going to meet in Davos, it was not appropriate.
We said, "We can't say anything without consulting our friends," and we came back to the Higher Education Association with our friends.
We unanimously decided that the march would take place, and we went to the police chief and reported this. By making threatening words and gestures to me, "Mr. President, according to the information we have received, 30-35 thousand people will descend to Komotini, how will we manage them? If an incident occurs, if blood is spilled, you will be responsible, do you realize your responsibility? Go everywhere. your announcement has been postponed," he was threatening.
I just said: "My dear chief, the waters are flowing towards the sea, we cannot reverse it. Let those who bring the matter here think about it. We are already holding this march so that the two prime ministers will hear about our problems," and they gave me a copy of the decision banning January 29, 1988, March.
We went back to our friends again and read the latest situation and the decision of the police. All our friends said "there is no going back" and we said to meet tomorrow in front of the Old Mosque and we left.
It turned out that the police forces had kept all the village and city entrances and exits from midnight, not leaving anyone from place to place. We learned this later. We were telling those who called us on the phone that the march would take place from the specified place to the province, and that no one should believe the false and false news. Because the news that the march was postponed was spreading, right and left...
Close to Friday, January 29, our people started to gather in front of the old mosque and in the courtyard of the Turkish Youth Union, breaking through the police barricades and crossing the mountains. Tens of thousands of young Turkish people, from seven to seventy, men and women, old and young, filled the streets of Gümülcine (Komotini) in order to participate in this STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTS. Our people, who were wanted to be prevented by the police forces, were beaten and taken to the hospital, some of them were arrested, beaten, and taken to the police station.
The governor banned Friday prayers in the Old Mosque with an announcement. During my presidency, we went to the governor's office with a delegation consisting of then Pasok Deputy Ahmet Faikoğlu and New Democracy Deputy Lawyer Mehmet Müftüoğlu and other ex-deputies and condemned the governor's attitude, and we firmly did not welcome the brutal beating of our people who wanted to come to the city for a peaceful march by the police, and that it would be a heavy responsibility.
We informed the governor that since Friday prayers were banned in the Old Mosque, Friday prayers would not be held in any mosque. Regarding not performing Friday prayers in all our villages. We phoned and that was it.
The walk ended with our speeches on the balcony of Faikoğlu, Müftüoğlu and İmamoğlu's Dentist Ayşe Galip, especially myself, towards the evening. We told the chief of police that we would disperse only on one condition. "With the release of our kinsmen imprisoned in the police station..."
The chief of police fulfilled this condition and released our imprisoned kinsmen, and tens of thousands of Turkish people dispersed without incident. But what a shame that even when our people were dispersed, the police continued to beat our people, regardless of whether they were male or female.
-Have you had any memorable memories that made you happy?
Rodoplu: By the way, since you're asking, I'll tell you. There are a few points in Minority History that make me happy for the first time in such a well-attended march.
The Western Thrace Turkish Minority was so close to its people and leaders that I cannot describe it. A second; We were fighting against the decision and mind that denied our Turkishness, while the fascist groups that gathered us as a counter-strike force were swearing and shouting "G..... Turkos".
But no matter what, we first announced to the prime ministers of the two countries that there was an unfair practice against the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace, so there was a problem with both Turkey and Greece's public opinion.
There are many things in these events that I cannot and will not forget. But the most important thing is the reality of how Turkish society is and can be clamped together with a sign in the face of injustice.
-Opposite the 29 January 1988 March, there is also the 29 January 1990 events. How do you evaluate this?
Rodoplu: Of course, in order to remember these events that left their mark on the history of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority and to refresh our feelings of unity on this occasion, we held a minority-wide mawlid in the Old Mosque on January 29, 1989.
Thousands of minority members attended this mawlid and dispersed without incident, saying that they would meet at this time next year. I mean that our own people never cause unrest unless there is the intervention of our fanatical Greek compatriots, provoked by our rulers.
As for the 29th of January 1990...
Again, the Muslim-Turkish Minority of Western Thrace would celebrate the 29th of January in unity and solidarity with a mawlid al-Sharif in the Old Mosque, just like it did a year ago. But unfortunately, organizations and individuals who could not tolerate the existence of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority completely got the job out of control.
Those fanatical groups of people who had landed in Komotini to participate in the 29 January celebrations and gathered around the Old Mosque and the Turkish Youth Union were beaten with sticks and iron bars sent many to the hospital, destroyed and looted Turkish shops and stores.
My two Independent Trust List nominee friends, the late Dr. Sadik Ahmet and the Mufti of Komotini, elected by our society today, Ibrahim Serif, were sentenced to 18 months in prison by the Komotini (Komotini) Lowe Court on January 26, 1990 because they were taken to Thessaloniki DİYAVATA prison, the only and independent in the minority. As a member of parliament, the burden of this job inevitably fell on me.
The Metropolitan of Komotini and Maronia, Damaskinos, was provoking the fanatical Greeks by making speeches on local Greek radios, and was giving awards such as "Well done my palikarians, you will be written in history with golden letters with these heroisms you have shown".
In short, hundreds of our people were beaten, around 250 Turkish shops and workplaces were broken into and looted. The figure we deduced from the receipts brought to me by our shopkeepers whose shops were destroyed was around 150 million on that day's account. These were ugly events that did not befit our age, democracy, and human rights.
What happened then?
On behalf of the European Helsinki Wach Human Rights Watch, Prof. E. Sisby came to Komotini two days later and together with Atty. We toured the looted and broken stores with Adem Bekiroğlu. He toured the Turkish neighborhoods, listening to the people's own mouths, and published a lengthy report on the problems faced by the Turks of Western Thrace. A few days after that, Ms. Withman came to Komotini on behalf of the American World Human Rights Watch and learned the problems of the Turkish Minority closely and announced it to the world with a report.
-You were a member of parliament on January 29, 1990, what kind of problems did you experience?
Rodoplu: I and our society have faced very embarrassing events for humanity in our age. But we were never afraid, we were not intimidated, and we did not fall into despair. First, we believed in the righteousness of our cause, and then we trusted that Allah is with the oppressed, and also in the Motherland, which left us here as Turkish-Muslims.
-In this period, you are at the beginning of the events. You must have had important memories or observations. Would you like to share the most important of these with our readers?
Rodoplu: Incidentally, I should also point out that the Western Thrace Turkish Community, which has gone through a lot of troubles since the day it was a minority, has been very wet and dried up, does not get upset or frightened by such minor incidents. In both serious incidents, there were those who were beaten and those whose property was plundered.
As the person who was at the beginning of these events, no one came to complain to me, that is, he did not cry or show weakness. I congratulate the Turkish Community once again and embrace it with respect.
I would also like to underline that there was an incident that deeply saddened me in these events. As a MP Me, Sebahattin Emin (President of the Association of Western Thrace Minority Graduates) and Ahmet Hacıosman (President of the V.İ.H.) were summoned to the chief of police the day before January 29. There, they made us meet with a person who said that he was the Gendarme Inspector of East Macedonia and Thrace.
Among many threats, M. Emin Ağa from Xanthi said that if he came to Komotini, he would beat him to death (cursing him). When we three friends reacted to these words, he repeated that he would have "only him, Ağa" beaten badly, and the next day we saw that I was left behind the office of the GERÇEK NEWSPAPER that day because he was beaten to death with iron bars.
-What was the repercussion of January in the Greek and foreign press?
Rodoplu: In short, I can say that the repercussions of these events were great and wide, and we had the opportunity to make our voices heard throughout the world.
-It has been 11-13 years since January 29th. What about the determination of struggle of the society at that time and the determination to struggle today?
Rodoplu: Yes, 11-13 years have passed since these events. Since 1992, some of our administrators admitted that serious mistakes were made in the minority policy, and minor changes began to be observed. Although not as much as it was then, the serious problems of our society have not been solved. The problem of education, the problem of foundations, the problem of mufti is the most serious economic problem.
More than ten billion dollars of aid and investments came to our region from the European Union. The Turkish Minority has never benefited from these. It is not clear when it will be used.
As for our community's determination to struggle; community, the same community, events should not bring our community to that point. I fully believe that he is ready for stronger, more faithful struggles.
-Have you thought of making a book about the events of January 29 to shed light on the future?
Rodoplu: Yes, I intend to publish this example of the Western Thrace Turkish Community's struggle in the way of SEARCHING for RIGHTS as a booklet and pass it on to future generations.
[Fehim AHMET | Mihenk Magazine, Issue 3, p. 16, January-February 2001.]
