Ahmet to Represent Turkish Minority in Greek Parliament

Ahmet, a Deputy in the New Democratic Party (NDP) in Gumulcine (Komotini) won his seat in the Parliament in elections held last Sunday (March7) with 13,800 votes in Rodop.

As the only representative of the Western Thrace Turkish minority in the Parliament, Ahmet said: "The Turkish minority has serious problems; but they received insufficient interest. We would like the friendly atmosphere between Turkey and Greece to be reflected in the Western Thrace Turks and our problems to be solved urgently." He added, "Despite all of the delays and obstructions, the Turkish minority has managed to send a deputy to the parliament."

Ahmet explained that, in principle, the Turkish minority could have sent representative from both Komotini and Iskece (Skec), but managed to get only one elected because they could not achieve unity among themselves. Ahmet said: "We have serious problems as a minority. I will look for not only the politics of my Party but also the problems of my whole constituency. No promises have been kept so far. There are big problems from the definition of being Turkish to the election of muftis. My duty is to be a representative of my community in Athens."