Western Thrace Turks tell Erdogan of problems in Greece

Turkey's Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan had a meeting with members of Western Thrace Turks Minority in Ankara.

During the meeting, the delegation said they were not allowed to use expression Turkish in their unions names in Greece despite the verdict of the European Court of Human Rights.

The delegation also demanded that diplomas of people graduating from Greek schools should be considered equivalent to those in Turkey.

Erdogan then said he had asked the Turkish National Education Ministry to deal with this problem.

Also, the delegation demanded that 64,000 members of Western Thrace Turkish minority, deprived of their Greek citizenship, should be given back their citizenship.

The delegation also hoped the new Greek government would assume a constructive attitude.

Turkish minority delegation earlier had a meeting with Turkish Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Sahin.

Ahmet Mete, chairman of consultative committee for Turkish Minority in Western Thrace, said, "Greece does not accept us as Turks. We are 150,000 Muslim Turks who have been trying to live in Western Thrace. We have existed so far with our self-confidence and we will keep living."

Mehmet Hacihalil, president of Iskece (Xanthi) Turkish Union, said that after several associations of Turks have been closed down, they applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). "ECHR ruled in favor of us. However Greece did not do anything," he said.

Sahin said, "Turkey has been wanted to take new steps on rule of law, human rights and democracy. But those who want us to take these steps, cannot solve problems of their own citizens. There is a contradiction here."

Parliament Speaker Sahin said Turkish parliament would always support Turks living in Western Thrace and Turkey would do what was required for solution of problems of Turks.

/World Bulletin/