FUEN condemns arbitrary detention of a Turkish language teacher by the Greek police on the grounds of spreading propaganda for Friendship, Equality, Peace (FEP) Party in the EP elections

The Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) expressed its concern over the detention of Turkish language teacher Cahit Mustafa in Rhodes for three times on the grounds of spreading propaganda for our member organisation Friendship, Equality, Peace (FEP) Party before the European Parliament elections on May 25, 2014 in Greece and urges Greek authorities to respect the right to free elections and guarantee the citizens’ free expression of their free will. 

Cahit Mustafa is a member of Turkish Minority of Western Thrace and lives in Rhodes with his wife Gülten Mustafa after his retirement. He is a lecturer of Turkish language in Rhodes Muslims Culture and Brotherhood Association and teaches Turkish to the children of the Turkish community, which is deprived of the right to education in mother tongue after the closure of its schools in 1974 in Rhodes.

Before the EP elections in Greece, Cahit Mustafa, who publicly expressed his Turkish identity, openly supported the minority party and distributed FEP Party’s election leaflets in Rhodes. He has been arrested by the police for three times and kept under detention for one hour at the first time, two hours at the second time and more long hours at the third time on the grounds that he spread propaganda for the FEP Party, which for the first time in its history participated in the elections to give the necessary message to the mindset which does not take into consideration the demands of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace in Greece and achieved the majority in Rhodope and Xanthi with a total number of 42.658 votes throughout the country. 

Reminding that the right to free elections is guaranteed by Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights, FUEN stresses the importance of individual right to freedom of expression including written and oral communications and their right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. FUEN condemns the arbitrary detention of Cahit Mustafa by the Greek police and urges Greek government to respect every citizen’s right to elect and express his political opinion freely.