Turkey's foreign minister has visited Western Thrace and met Turks living in Xanthi during his trip to Greece. Davutoğlu asks Turks to preserve their unity and solidarity and be socially, culturally and economically active as Greek citizens, while not forgetting that they are also European citizens at the same time

The Turkish foreign minister visits Western Thrace in Greece and meets with members of the Turkish minority in Greece. AA photo.

The Turkish minority in Greece has the right to protect their cultural identity and practice their religion, yet they should also be active in Greek society and EU affairs, Turkey’s foreign minister said Thursday.

"The issue of religious freedoms also has to do with international human rights,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu told reporters Thursday. “We can discuss such matters by being respectful to our internal matters.”

Following his meetings with Greek officials in Athens on Wednesday and Thursday, Davutoğlu gathered with the Turkish minority in Western Thrace and said they were Turkey’s diaspora in Greece.

“They are our citizens or neighbors, relatives, a bridge between Turkey and Greece. I told them to remember the heritage which we shared throughout the centuries. There should be more contacts,” the minister said.

Turkey's foreign minister met with members of the Xanthi Turkish Association and Xanthi's mufti on the sidelines of his visit to the Western Thrace. He also visited Komotini and the village of Kozlukebir (Arriana), met the mufti of Komotini, İbrahim Şerif, and attended a reception hosted by the Western Thrace Turkish Minority Consultation Board.

“[The minority] has the right to protect its cultural identity, practice its religion and have educational institutions to practice its languages. They should continue to keep these cultural characteristics. But having different cultural characteristics doesn’t mean that it will lead to a conflict. It’s a richness of Greece, a richness of the Balkans,” Davutoğlu said.

But Davutoğlu also urged Turkish Muslim minorities to be more integrated in Greek society and EU affairs.

“You should not forget that you are equal citizens of Greece like others, like your Christian neighbors. So, be active in Greek society, politics, intellectual life and business life. Don’t feel you are alien here. You are a part of Greek society here. You lived here centuries and you’ll continue to live for centuries,” he said.

He also called on the Turkish Muslim minority to benefit from the improving relationship between Turkey and Greece.

“Adopt and be part of European culture. Be active in Brussels,” he said. “Through you, Turkish is a European language, Islam is in Europe. You should be active in the European atmosphere. Being a Muslim-Turk is not contradictory to being a Greek citizen.”

Elaborating on the religious problems of Turkish Muslim minorities, Davutoğlu said: “The rights of Turkish-Muslim minorities are all domestic issues of Greece. But in this globalized world, all these issues are beyond domestic characteristics, especially in Europe in certain standards of human rights.”

He said human rights issues could be discussed in a “friendly manner with respect to domestic affairs”. “One of the issues is the mufti issue; it should be seen in the perspective of religious freedom and freedom of religious organization. This is a European value.”

One of the problems the Turkish Muslim minority facing Greece is the appointment of muftis. The Greek government appoints muftis instead of holding elections.

Speaking about his meeting late Wednesday with Aris Yannakidis, governor of the East Macedonia-Thrace Region, the minister said: “We shared our views about how this Turkish-Greek friendship could be translated into an action plan to make regional developments in Turkish and Greek border provinces. I am sure that in the future we’ll make more economic integration over the borders.”

Turkey and Greece needed to make borders more flexible like in the European Union, he said. “We want Istanbul, Thessaloniki, Athens and Kavala to have more interaction.”

Davutoğlu visited Thassaloniki on Thursday.