An international organization is set to tackle the common problems Turks in Europe face at a three-day workshop in the Turkish capital Ankara.
The Union of International Democrats (UID), a nongovernmental European Turkish organization, will be holding a camp from Wednesday to Saturday aimed at developing its capacity and education in Ankara’s Kızılcahamam district.
The workshop, organized by Türkiye’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), will include presentations and open panel discussions on solutions to the issues plaguing the Turkish community abroad in some 10 chapters.
UID Chair Kenan Aslan is expected to kick off the workshop and deliver its closing speech.
Participants will include Family and Social Services Minister Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş, Labor and Social Security Minister Vedat Işıkhan and other officials.
The UID delegation is also expected to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who will heed their requests for action on said issues.
The UID was founded in Cologne in 2004 originally under the name of the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD) and later renamed itself UID to meet growing global demand.
The group held its sixth ordinary assembly in Bosnia-Herzegovina in May 2018 and has since evolved into a world organization. It states its main purpose as "strengthening the relations of Turks and sister communities on a global scale and establish closer economic, social and cultural relations."
This week’s workshop will delve into common problems threatening the Turkish diaspora in 10 chapters, namely: "Fighting against racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism; supporting youths of immigrant background; urbanization and integration; the right to dual citizenship; recognition of Islam as an official religion; the right to vote in local elections; incentivization of immigrant participation; multi-culturalism in state offices and government agencies and multilingual education."
Most of some 6.5 million Turks outside of Türkiye live largely in Western European countries, with over 3.5 million in Germany and another million in France.
The community often complains of anti-Muslim and anti-Turkish threats and attacks on Turkish diplomatic missions, homes and shops, as well as places of worship and social gathering. For instance, over 500 attacks involving Quran burnings took place in Western Europe last year, according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
Just last month, four Bulgarian citizens of Turkish descent were killed in an arson attack in Germany’s Solingen city, mirroring a similar incident in 1993 when nine Turks were killed in a fire by far-right neo-Nazi extremists, again in Solingen.