In the organization of the Movement for the Promotion of the Macedonian Mother Language “Krste Misirkov” from Florina and the organization United Macedonian Diaspora, on October 21, 2023, at the “Holiday Inn” hotel in Thessaloniki, a Human Rights Forum was held.
The Human Rights Forum discussed the advancement of the position and rights of national minorities in Greece in accordance with international law.
The Forum was also attended by representatives of the Turkish community in Greece, from the Party for Friendship, Equality and Peace, officially known as Komma İsotitas İrinis Ke Filias or KIEF for short (in Turkish: Dostluk Eşitlik Barış Partisi – DEB Partisi), founded in 1991 by Sad Sadık Ahmet, which operates in Greece and defends the rights of the Turkish minority in Western Thrace, whose president since January 5, 2019 is Çiğdem Asafoğlu’dur.
The following spoke at the human rights forum in Thessaloniki: Ali Ali Dayı Hüseyin, vice-president of the Party for Friendship, Equality and Peace (DEB); Koray Bağdatlı, member of the Central Executive Board of the DEB Party; Pervin Hayrullah, General Director of the Company for Culture and Education of Minorities in Western Thrace (BAKEŞ – Batı Trakya Azınlık Kültür ve Eğitim Şirketi – BAKEŞ); and Ahmet Kara’nın, president of the Encümenler Turkish Association.
The Human Rights Forum commemorated the 100th anniversary of the ratification by the Government of Athens of the Protocol for the Protection of Minorities in Greece, signed at Sèvres (France) on August 10, 1920, ratified by the Greek Parliament in 1923. Despite the Hellenic Republic’s commitments, legal guarantees for the protection of minorities have never been implemented. The suspension of the Protocol of 1923 by the Government in Athens turned into violence and terror against minorities!
The Forum was also attended by representatives of the organizations NPLD and FUEN, the famous linguist from the University of Chicago, Dr. Victor Friedman, a delegation of the Macedonians in Albania, the Macedonian Alliance for European Integration (MAEI), experts in international law and minority rights, such as and human rights activists.
The forum established the following conclusions: an appeal for an end to institutional discrimination against national minorities in Greece; establishment of institutional mechanisms for the protection of the rights and freedoms of national minorities in Greece – of education, information and religion; equal access for all to education, employment and public services, regardless of ethnicity, language, culture and religion; encouraging intercultural dialogue; supporting cultural manifestations and encouraging participation in public life for national minorities; and increasing monitoring in the implementation of obligations from international agreements.