ANKARA - The Western Thrace Turkish Solidarity Association condemned on Tuesday those ''who had behaviors away from seriousness of a state with some simple and ugly fait accomplis that could obstruct improvement of relations between Turkey and Greece.''
A statement of Burhaneddin Hakguder, the Chairman of the Association, said that ''it was time that Greek administrators and politicians should see the damages of 80-year intrigues about mufti, election of society and foundation administrators and education of minority by those who denied ethnic identities of Western Thrace Turkish Minority on the people of two countries.''
The statement added that ''Greece continued simple and ugly intrigues.'' It claimed that during the last visit of Foreign Ministry and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul to Athens, Meco Cemali and Sinikoglu, who were appointed to their offices which was not approved by Turkey and Western Thrace Turkish Minority, were invited to the reception hosted in Gul's honor on October 22. Cemali and Sinikoglu came together with Gul with a fait accompli and their photograph was taken, the statement said.
The statement claimed that the situation was reflected as ''Turkey Recognizes Elected Muftis'' in the Greek press.
''The intrigue on Abdullah Gul is a simple and ugly intrigue,'' the statement said.
The statement pointed out that the intrigue aimed to create a crisis of confidence between Turkey and Greece but it was an effort in vain.
Noting that that effort could not be incompatible with seriousness of a state, the statement stressed that fait accomplis had never yielded result in the history.
The statement also claimed that some recent Athens-oriented news in Turkish press organs was misleading.
Referring to news titled ''Greece accepts existence of Turkish minority in Western Thrace'', ''Giant leap forward of Simitis government: Turkish to be an elective course'' and ''shariah in the middle of EU'', the statement claimed that those news ''did not serve anything, but efforts to confuse minds of Turkish public opinion regarding struggle of Turkish minority for their ethnic identity, education and post of mufti for years.''
(BRC-AÖ) 28.10.2003