Forum on Minority Issues “Minorities in situations of humanitarian crises” 9th Session 24-25 November 2016 Name of Organization: Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe(ABTTF) Main Contact Person(s): Mrs. Melek Kırmacı Arık E-mail(s): melek.kirmaci@abttf.org; info@abttf.org Agenda Item III: Respecting minority rights as a means of preventing or mitigating the impact of humanitarian crises Dear Mr.President, Distinguished representatives of Member States, And esteemed NGOs, The refugee crisis in Europe is a huge challenge for all European countries. Increasing number of refugees and migrant take their chances aboard in a desperate bid to reach Europe. According to the statistical data of the UN Refugee Agency(UNHCR) there was 1,015,078 arrivals by sea in 2015 and 318,280 arrivals in 2016. 168,630 arrivals were from Greece, which cannot manage this situation alone. In its UPR Report, Greece noted that it has received more than 1 million refugees and irregular migrants since the beginning of 2015. The Greek National Commission for Human Rights (GNCHR)noted in its oral statement delivered at the 33rd Session of the Human Rights Council during the adoption of Greece’s UPR report that in the light of the multiple crisis that Greece is facing, Greek Government should address the existing deficiencies in the investigation and awareness-raising on racism and intolerance against marginalised groups which remains a general issue of concern in Greece. This issue has intensively been discussed during Greece’s UPR Second Cycle Review held on 3 May 2016 at the 25th Session of the UPR Working Group, and several Member States made recommendations to Greece on the prevention of hate crimes against vulnerable groups including national minorities. There is a danger of rising racism and xenophobia in Greece during that period, as was the case in many European countries. The Commission underlined that the protection of human rights must be proved in practice and many measures for the protection of human rights in Greece should be adopted as a matter of urgency. In his letter of 25 July 2016 addressed to Mr. Toskas, Alternate Minister of Interior and of Administrative Reconstruction of Greece, and to Mr. Paraskevopoulos, Minister of Justice of Greece, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muiznieks also warned that during his last visit to the country, he received reports indicating an increase of hate crimes in Greece We note with very concern that the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace has been a target of hate crime attacks in recent years and persons, institutions and places of worship belonging to the Turkish minority are being attacked by unknown perpetrators. U.S. International Religious Freedom Report for 2015 on Greece mentioned that there were