Epress.am News from Armenia
A Turkish woman has announced her mayoral candidacy for local Greek elections scheduled next month – the first time a member of the country’s Turkish minority has sought such an office – in a bid to improve her community’s status.
“We are citizens of this country. But we are not satisfied by the quality of the rights that we enjoy. My candidacy on behalf of ‘First step for equality’ [movement] will prove that we are unified to defend our rights,” said Sibel Mustafaoğlu, adding that the movement’s doors were open to everyone, regardless of religious or ethnic background.
Already enjoying the backing of Turkish groups in Thrace, Mustafaoğlu is seeking to become mayor in Thrace’s Komotini province, where she is currently a member of the municipality council.
Mustafaoğlu is also a former member of the ruling Panhellenic Socialist Movement, or PASOK, and has run in the past for the party in the European Parliament.
“Ι am very glad that I have the support of the Turkish minority in my endeavor,” Mustafaoğlu told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review last week.
Government Spokesperson Giorgos Petalotis, however, has accused the political group of “torpedoing the progress that has been made for the integration of the Turkish minority.”
“It is a right for every citizen to participate in the elections. This is obvious and without any objection,” he said.
“However,” he told local media last week, “if groups start to divide the ballots according to religious or national origins, that would drag Greece society back, along with the integration process that we have attained.”
The president of the Western Thrace Turks of Europe, or ABBTF, Halit Habipoğlu, rejected Petalotis’ claims.
“The ‘First step for equality’ and similar groups are not a step back for Greece and the Turkish minority in Greece – actually, it’s a step forward,” he said.
“The Turkish minority of Western Thrace has decided to proceed to the upcoming local elections with independent lists in Xanthi and Komotini to have a direct voice in local administration,” Habipoğlu told the Daily News.