Avrupa Batı Trakya Türk Federasyonu Föderation der West-Thrakien Türken in Europa Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe Ευρωπαϊκή Ομοσπονδία Τούρκων Δυτικής Θράκης Fédération des Turcs de Thrace Occidentale en Europe NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations Member of the Fundamental Rights Platform (FRP) of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights Member of the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) United Nations Sixteenth Session of the Forum on Minority Issues 30 November-1 December 2023 1st Session- Challenges to Inclusion & Equality Name of the organisation: Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) E-mail: info@abttf.org Dear Moderator, My name is Melek Kırmacı, I am here to represent the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe, which is the international representative of the Turkish community in Western Thrace in Greece. With the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, the Western Thrace Turks in Greece and the Greeks in Istanbul, Bozcaada and Gökçeada were granted minority status in Greece and Türkiye, and both communities were granted the right to establish and manage their own schools, religious and charitable institutions. In the context of benefiting from the right to education, the principle of equality and nondiscrimination has a very important role to play in ensuring equal access to quality education for people belonging to minority groups. Lack of equal access to quality education hinders minority children’s access to civil and political rights and increases segregation in the community as a result of the marginalisation of children belonging to the minority. The autonomy granted to the Turkish community by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne was largely implemented in the period from 1923 to 1967. However, it was greatly damaged by laws, regulations and practices implemented over the years following the 1967 Colonels’ Junta. This autonomous structure in education has been complicated by fait accompli legal practices and has been literally taken under the control of the state without consulting our community. The right to access equal and quality education is hindered today due to the government’s interventions in the structure of autonomous education. With Law No. 3518/2006, pre-school education has been rendered compulsory throughout the country, but it is not allowed to open kindergartens that will provide education in Turkish and Greek within the school system of the Turkish community in Western Thrace or privately. The Turkish community in Western Thrace constitutes 55 percent of the population in Rodopi, 45 percent in Xanthi and 10 percent in Evros. There are 141 pre-school state kindergartens in Rodopi, 141 in Xanthi, and 77 in Evros, but there is not even one single Turkish kindergarten. ABTTF Head Office • Wemerstr. 2, D-58454 Witten, Germany • Tel.: +49 (0) 2302 913291 • Fax: +49 (0) 2302 913293 ABTTF Brussels Office • Square de Meeûs 38/40, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium • Tel.: +32 (0) 2 401 61 98 • Mobile: +32 (0) 474 45 45 76 ABTTF Athens Office • 24 Lagoumitzi str., GR-17671 Athens, Greece • Tel.: +30 (0) 211 109 72 33 • Mobile: +30 (0) 694 467 36 61 info@abttf.org • www.abttf.org