Education is likely one of the vital points affecting roughly 150,000 ethnic Turkish minorities in Greece, a parliament candidate related to the principle opposition occasion Özgür Ferhat stated Tuesday blaming the incumbent authorities for some selections that exacerbated the scenario.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Özgür Ferhat, a parliament member candidate from the principle opposition Syriza occasion famous many of the nation’s ethnic Turkish minority reside in Western Thrace – Bulgaria to the north, Türkiye to the east, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Greek area of North Macedonia to the west – the place the standard of training in colleges for minorities doesn’t meet fashionable requirements.
Ferhat, who’s working within the May 21 parliamentary elections within the Rhodope province, has pledged that his occasion will enhance the training degree and replace it in response to up to date wants.
“During the Syriza government, bilingual kindergartens were introduced. However, this government denied minority children a comfortable education in their native language by reversing that policy,” he stated, blaming the ruling New Democracy authorities for the poor training system within the Western Thrace.
He additionally criticized a mufti regulation in Western Thrace governing the appointment of Muslim clerics (muftis), claiming that the federal government didn’t seek the advice of the minority earlier than enacting it final yr.
The nation’s Turkish minority didn’t settle for many articles of the regulation, he stated.
Underlining that the federal government ought to take selections by speaking with the minority on necessary points, Ferhat accused the Greek authorities of additionally violating the liberty of affiliation within the 2007 and 2008 rulings by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) concerning the minority associations that had been closed because of the phrase “Turkish” of their names.
This must be corrected, and the minority associations that pose no risk to the nation must be allowed to function freely, he emphasised.
He additionally slammed the federal government’s financial insurance policies, claiming that they accelerated folks’s migration to different European international locations.
Their area is already one of many poorest in Greece, Ferhat stated, pledging that Syriza would create extra jobs and convey prosperity to Western Thrace, which is crucial for the peaceable coexistence of minorities within the area.
The Western Thrace area close to the border with Türkiye is residence to a considerable, long-established Muslim Turkish minority of roughly 150,000 folks.
The rights of Turks are assured by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, however the scenario has deteriorated considerably in current many years, with Greece refusing to implement ECHR rulings.
Despite a 2008 ECHR ruling in opposition to Greece, associations with the phrase “Turkish” of their names are nonetheless banned in Western Thrace.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
