At the same time the march also condemned the attempted coup in motherland. The march which began on Sunday at 17:00, despite fear installing news was attended by organisation and institution presidents and many compatriots from all regions of Western Thrace, totalling close to three thousand people. Western Thrace Turks who gathered in front of the former FEP Party headquarters walked to the old Rhodope Governor’s building waving flags and banners. After 28 years the democratic march without exuberance continued with President Mustafa Ali Cavus’s statement expressing the demands and purpose of the march. The same statement was read in Greek by Vice President Ozan Ahmetoglu and followed by EFA Head of Communication Jorgos Papadakis’s speech. We thank all organisation and institution presidents, board members and people from all corners of Western Thrace for participating and supporting the march.

The statement read out in front of the former Governor’s building:

‘Dear Organisation and Institution chairmen!

Dear Press Members!

Distinguished people!

As minority members who have acquired friendship, equality and peace, after 28 years we execute a democratic and lawful march seeking for justice.

Our aim is to live as equal citizens in this country. To have the rights granted to us with the Lausanne Treaty when we were entrusted to our country Greece. That is the purpose of why we have takeb to the streets.

We want to be recognised with our own identity. In this context, we want decisions of the European Court of Human Rights regarding our historical association bearing our identity to be implemented, these associations to be recognised again and permission to be given to open new associations with Turkish names.

We demand our educational rights, bilingual Turkish- Greek educating minority nurseries and new minority schools to meet demand.

We want foundations to be managed according to the free will of our minority people.

We demand our elected muftis to be officially recognised and our people to freely have the right to choose their imams. In short, we demand the cancellation of the ‘240 Imam Act’.

We want public sector employment doors to be opened to our educated youth.

As a political party, we want the anti-democratic 3% electoral threshold applied to independent candidates to be cancelled.

We expect for Dr. Sadik Ahmet’s car in which he lost his life and which was stolen from the FEP Party headquarters to be found and for those who attack our party to be captured and brought to justice.

We oppose to teachers and students in minority schools to be prevented from speaking our mother tongue Turkish.

We demand the abolition of the economic and quality of life differences between the minority and majority.

We want to live as happy citizens in our country Greece with equal citizenship rights.

We want to serve this country and like our grandfathers we want to defend this country in all areas, acting together for the survival of our country.

We expect a genuine dialogue process to begin with the governments minority institutions for the solution of minority issues waiting to be resolved for years.

Finally, we condemn the attempted coup in Turkey which tried to overthrow the President who came to office with the nation’s free-will and which tried to interrupt democracy. No to the coup and yes to democracy. We once again commemorate those who lost their live for democracy.’

Following the reading of the statement, Head of Communications Jorgos Papadakis from the European Free Alliance (EFA), of which the FEP Party is a member, thanked the public for attending for the rights which are not given to Western Thrace Turks. He also said, ‘EFA has been in operation in the European Union for more than thirty years and has 12 MEPs and that the 12 MEPS at the same time are MEPs of Western Thracians, that the policies of Greece towards the minority are wrong and that Greece needs to respect human rights and freedoms and that they will fight in the EP until Greece understands this. We will be the voice of Western Thrace Turks and hope that in the future we hope to see the FEP Party having their own MP in EP elections.