MPs Baran and Zeybek targeted again
On Sunday 14 May, Burhan Baran and Hüseyin zeybek, MPs from Xanthi, who attended the ordinary general assembly meeting of Xanthi Turkish Union, were again targeted.
An article published in the national daily Elefteros Typos under the signature of Angleos Angelidis with the title "Challenge: Two MPs in the "Turkish" Union of Xanthi"", the Independent MP for Xanthi Burhan Baran and New Left MP for Xanthi Hüseyin Zeybek, who attended the general assembly of the Union, were targeted.
The newspaper claimed that Burhan Baran, who was expelled by the PASOK party and now continues to serve as an independent MP, will now be tested by the test he will give at the ballot box in the upcoming elections, and the party was invited to take a stand for the New Left MP Hüseyin Zeybek.
After 40 years of legal struggle, in the closure case against the Xanthi Turkish Union, which is the oldest association of the Turkish minority in Western Thrace, although the European Court of Human Rights has found the ITU to be right, Greece refuses to comply with the ECtHR judgements.
In addition to the two minority MPs, Musa Vidinli, former deputy governor of Xanthi, Ahmet Kurt, Mayor of Mustafçova, Mustafa Trampa, Mufti of Xanthi, Çiğdem Asafoğlu, President of FEP Party and Hüseyin Baltacı, President of WTMUGA were among those targeted.
The newspaper, which also included the discussions that took place last week in Dolaphan mosque, distorted the facts and it is clear from what was written that it made an effort to defame the Mufti of Xanthi Mustafa Trampa and other minority representatives.
The article published on 16 April in the Elefteros Typos newspaper, which tries to make the Minority administrators a target for the Greek public opinion, by suppressing the facts, is as follows:
"Challenge: Two MPs in the 'Turkish' Union of Xanthi'
Two members of the Greek Parliament attended the plenary session of the Union, which is declared illegal and not recognised by the country and its courts!
New Left's Xanthi MP Hüseyin Zeybek and Xanthi MP Baran Burhan (recently expelled from PASOK) attended yesterday the general assembly of the old Xanthi "Turkish" Union.
In the general assembly, elections for the executive and supervisory boards of the union were also held, while two Greek deputies also made speeches at the meeting!
It should be noted that the former Union has been accused of having links with the Nationalist Movement Party and the far-right terrorist organisation Ülkü Ocakları.
For the last 37 years, this Union has been continuing its activities despite being banned.
The participation of two MPs in the work of a banned union is paradoxical to say the least and the New Left will have to take a stand against this behaviour of the MP; Baran Burhan is now an independent and will be considered in the next election.
The former "Turkish" Union of Xanthi is another organisation that is fully guided by the Turkish Consulate in Komotini. The support of the Consulate and the authorities of neighbouring countries is obvious. Just the other day, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs made a post on its "X" address. We support the rightful struggle of the Association to use its name in line with the judgements of the European Court of Human Rights."
It was founded in 1927 under the name of "Xanthi Turkish Youth House". Following the application of the association to the Xanthi Court of First Instance, the name was changed to Xanthi Turkish Union in 1936. In November 1983, the Governor of Xanthi, Fanis Donas, applied for an injunction to ban the use of the term 'Turk' and this application was accepted. In November 1987, the Xanthi "Turkish" Union was banned on the grounds that the word "Turk" used to describe members of the Muslim minority in Western Thrace threatened public order and should only be used to refer to Turkish citizens, according to the Court of Appeal of Thrace.
TURKISH CONSULATE IN CUMULUS
Propaganda for the dismissal of the fake mufti
The Turkish Consulate in Komotini, with its propaganda mechanism in full operation, presented everything that happened last Friday at the Sminthis Mosque in Xanthi in black and white (!).
The discrediting (almost kicking) of the so-called Mufti Mustafa Trampa, the New Left MP Hüseyin Zeybek and other "high ranking" members of the minority was a resounding slap in the face of the Consulate and its practices. In fact, because the Muslim inhabitants of the minority village cornered the so-called mufti and his entourage, the police were called in and their officers managed to restore order!
The Turkish Consulate did not like the publicisation of the issue and had to reverse the situation at all costs in order not to lose what little ground it had left in the ranks of the minority. Thus, last night, the first guided advertisements in the Turkish-language media in Thrace started timidly.
All of them are based on the same absurd and twisted logic, namely the claim that the believers expelled the "provocateurs of the deep Greek state" who tried to impose the imam of their choice on the village, and again refer to the "Greek state"!
In other words, this is a complete reversal of reality and outright propaganda."
