The Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (Turkish: Avrupa Batı Trakya Türk Federasyonu, short: ABTTF, Greek: Ευρωπαϊκή Ομοσπονδία Τούρκων Δυτικής Θράκης, short: ΕΟΤΔΘ) established in 1988 in Germany as a nonprofit umbrella organization by seven founding associations in Germany and with participation of the Association of Western Thrace Turks in the UK, the organisation adopted its current name, Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe.
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With headquarters in Witten, Germany, ABTTF is represented through an office in Brussels, Belgium, since 2010. The organization has 29 member associations in Germany and one in England that, in total, it unites 6.000 affiliated members. ABTTF is the first organization that has been granted special consultative status by the United Nations Economic and Social Council as a representative body of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace.
History
The Convention concerning the exchange of Greek and Turkish populations signed on 30 January 1923 in the aftermath of the Greco-Turkish War 1919-22 exempted the exchange of Muslim Turkish population living in Western Thrace and the Greek Orthodox minority in Istanbul and on the islands of Imbros (Gökçeada) and Tenedos (Bozcaada).
Geographically Western Thrace covers the provinces of Komotini, Xanthi and Evros and is situated between Evros River on the eastern frontier of Greece with Turkey and the Rodophe mountains on the north, which constitute Greece's natural border with Bulgaria.
Treaty of Lausanne, further to the agreed Convention on exchange of both populations, regulated at the same time the status and rights of remaining folks in each undersigning state of the Treaty. A population of 150.000 Muslim Turks living in Western Thrace were granted therefore the official minority status. The Turkish Muslim Minority’s status in Western Thrace is explicitly defined within the Articles 37-44 of the Lausanne Treaty.
According to the officially granted minority status within the Section III of the Treaty of Lausanne, Turkish Minority of Western Thrace are given equal rights to “establish, manage and control at their own expense any charitable, religious and social institutions, any schools and other establishments for instruction and education, with the right to use their own language and to exercise their own religion freely therein”.
From 1950s on, Greek authorities did not comply with obligations undersigned in the Treaty, which gave way to considerable human rights violations. Growing political instability due to the Greek civil war followed by the Greek military junta of 1967-1974 further instigated Greek nationalism thus, exacerbated the situation of minorities, in particular of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace.
Increased tensions over Greece-Turkey relations during this period were reflected as suppression and assimilation policies started against the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace in 1960s and grew in intensity through 1970s. The policies put in place by Greek authorities with motivations of intimidation of the respective minority have manifested themselves as “dissolution” of the Minority and eventually leaving territories by means of “forced migration”.
Unconstitutional denaturalization policy due to the former Article 19 of Greek Nationality Code, which was in force in 1955-1998, stipulated “a person of non-Greek ethic origin leaving Greece without the intention of returning may be declared as having lost Greek nationality....” clearly aimed at elimination of Turkish Minority of Western Thrace from the region.
Being threatened at multiple dimensions of their lives; be it social, political, economic and cultural spheres, the Turkish Minority were forced to migrate. While the vast majority of migration wave was towards Turkey, some groups chose to migrate to European countries, in particular to Germany.
Today, including the third generation, population of Western Thrace Turks in Germany amounts to 30.000. Except overseas like Australia, the United States of America and Canada, there is a considerable number of Western Thrace Turkish population living dispersed in other EU Member States, such as the Netherlands, England, Sweden, France, Belgium and Austria.
The need to keep alive their socio-cultural values and maintain solidarity in their host countries led the Western Thrace Turks to summon under collectively created associations.
In Germany, the first Western Thrace Turks Association was established on 1 January 1978 in the city of Giessen of the state Hessen. This was followed by foundation of other Western Thrace Turks Associations in Stuttgart, Homburg/Saar, Munich, Düsseldorf, Kelsterbach and so on. The dramatic rise in the number of associations established by the Western Thrace Turks living in Europe has been a response to Greece’s assimilation policies pursued towards the Minority in the region.
In the beginning of 1980s, despite being accessed to the EU as a fully member, the successive Greek governments have not given up from their suppression policy against minority groups, primarily to the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace. At that stage, initial reactions were raised through the Western Thrace Turks’ associations established in Germany. Western Thrace Turks associations in Germany, whose number were on a constant increase, have established Coordination Committees aimed at advanced cooperation and increased solidarity. The efforts invested on this way gave its fruits on 28 February 1988 with official establishment of Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Germany co-founded by seven member associations.
By establishment of the new federation in Germany, Western Thrace Turks attained a large sphere of representation, which assured the political, social, cultural, educational and other problems of the Minority to be voiced on international arena as well as coordination and cooperation between other associations established by the Western Thrace Turks.
With its increasing number of member associations, Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Germany has become Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe in 1996 by receiving Association of Western Thrace Turks in the UK on board.
Mission
Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) aims for solution of the problems of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace in Greece which can be achieved through an inclusive minority policy driven by respect and recognition of fundamental rights and freedoms. To this end, ABTTF is independent of political parties, state authorities and governments. Established in Germany and recognized as an international civil society organization, ABTTF pursues its activities in line with German federal laws.
While associations established locally by the Minority in Western Thrace serve the Turkish minority to maintain its social and cultural identity, Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF), as the officially recognised international representative of the Minority, promotes solution of judicial, political, economical and socio-cultural problems the Western Thrace Turks face in their daily lives in Greece.
ABTTF furthermore strives for equal treatment and non-discirimination of the Minority both in Greece and in the immigrated countries.
An essential mission assumed by the Federation is raisining awarenes of politicians and representatives throughout Europe that Turkish Minority of Western Thrace in Greece face severe violations of minority and human rights on a regular basis. ABTTF tries to induce Greece to cease respective violations and remind the signatory states of the Treaty of Lausanne to comply with the obligations laid out in the treaty's stipulations.
International recognition
In 2006, the "Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe" has been accredited as a non-governmental organization (NGO) by the United Nations. On May 10, 2006, the UN Committee on Non-governmental Organizations recommended the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to grant consultative status to ABTTF and 21 other NGOs which led to ABTTF's accreditation in July 2006. This status allows the organization to participate in international meetings of the United Nations as speaker and to set up a representative office at the UN's main sites in New York, Vienna, and Geneva.
Furthermore, the "Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe" is full member of the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN). In 2008, ABTTF has been a founding party of Fundamental Rights Platform (FRP) of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and in the same year it became an active member of the European Dialogue Forum which is the committee that contacts the European Parliament in concern of issues about traditional national minorities, constitutional regions and regional languages. Moreover, ABTTF participates in conferences of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and of FUEN. In April 2005, the organization took part in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Organization
The Federation is structured in five main pillars, which are General Assembly, Executive Board, Audit Board, Disciplinary Board and Board of Representatives.
General Assembly is the highest decision-making body of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe. Delegates of the member associations, ABTTF Executive Board and natural persons are essential participants to ABTTF General Assembly.
Executive Board is composed of 11 members, including President, two Vice-Presidents, General Secretary, one accountant and six members. Executive Board s is elected by the General Assembly for a term of two years. Members of the Executive Board cannot assume duty in no other organs except their ipso facto membership to Board of Representatives. Besides general managerial tasks, Executive Board is liable for the execution of decisions taken by Board of Representatives and General Assembly as well as ABTTF’s recruitment policy. In accordance with Article 26 of the German Civil Law, Executive Board is formed by President, two Vice-Presidents, Secretary and Accountant. The President of the Federation has the competence of representing organization alone, whereas two Vice-Presidents bear the right to representation together with General Secretary and Accountant. The staff cannot take part in the Executive Board.
ABTTF Audit board is composed of three members and is elected at ABTTF General Assembly held every two years. Audit board inspects decisions and accounts of the Federation at least once in a year. The mid-term reports prepared following audit is submitted to Board of Representatives and Executive Board. The general audit report prepared at the end of term is presented at the General Assembly.
Disciplinary board is composed of three members and is elected at ABTTF General Assembly held every two years. As well as the board members cannot take up duty in other organizational bodies of ABTTF, they cannot be member to the board of any member association.
Board of Representatives is the highest decision-making body among other organizational entities. It is formed by two board members of each member association and ABTTF Executive Board. The Board of Representatives summons at least once a year with presence of ¼ of its members and has the right to make decision on any matter except those made at the level of Executive Board.
Works and international cooperation
Representing Western Thrace Turks as their spokesperson in international fora since its establishment, Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe has had several achievements regarding the advocacy of the Minority at the European Parliament (EP), Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe OSCE and the United Nations UN.
Progressive approach, adopted especially since 2002, broadened ABTTF’s involvement with international minority representative authorities, which has been fully realized with membership to the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) in 2008. ABTTF’s dedicated work along with other European minorities from 32 European countries under FUEN umbrella brought the unique representative of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace to a pivotal role with the election of ABTTF President Halit Habip Oğlu to FUEN Board elected during FUEN Congress held in June 2013 in South Tyrol.
Besides regular participation at OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting held annually in Warsaw and Supplementary Human Implementation Meetings in Vienna and at the UN Forum on Minority Issues and (Human Rights Council) organised by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), ABTTF cooperates with Brussels-based civil society organisations by means of expressing the problems of the Western Thrace Turkish Turkish Minority of Western Thrace in the EU capital Brussels. The fact-finding mission to the region in October 2012 was held in presence of FUEN President Hans-Heinrich Hansen, Member of the European Parliament François Alfonsi and Human Rights Without Frontiers Int’l (HRWF) Director Willy Fautre. The report ‘Ethnic Turks in Greece, a Muslim Minority’ regarding witnessed human rights violations following consultation meetings held with the Minority members was drafted by HRWF Director Willy Fautre and was received by wide array of society, including European Institutions and other minority representatives throughout Europe.
In March 2013, ABTTF, minority's political party Party of Friendship, Equality and Peace (FEP)and Culture and Education Foundation of Western Thrace Minority (C.E.F.O.M) organised a visit to the region with participation of Federal Union of European Nationalities President Hans-Heinrich Hansen and The European Association of Daily Newspapers in Minority and Regional Languages (MIDAS) member of the Governing Board Bojan Brezigar. The delegation attended the trial of minority dailies Gundem and Millet as observers at Thrace Court of Appeal taken place on 22 March 2013. Further to the support to the Minority media, FUEN President and MIDAS Board member visited Minority’s political party, Friendship, Equality, Peace (FEP) Party and held consultations with the Minority members.
In June 2013, The “One million signatures for diversity in Europe” campaign introduced within the framework of European Citizens Initiative to the European Commission by Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) has been presented to Turkish Minority of Western Thrace through a mission organised by ABTTF and FEP Party to the Thracian cities of Komotini and Xanthi. In support of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace FUEN Director Jan Diedrichsen, Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (RDMSz) Vice-President László Borbély and RDMSz International Secretary Lorant Vincze joined the visit.
Beyond the international engagement, entrusted with coordination of member associations for maintaining the social and cultural values of the Western Thrace Turks, Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe is the founding member of the Permanent Secretariat of International Council of Western Thrace Turks an upper entity established for synchronization and cooperation of works among organizations created by Turkish Minority of Western Thrace living worldwide.