Minority party leader claims Turkish identity

Turkish media are prominently covering the Party of Friendship, Equality and Peace, representing mostly the Muslim minority in Greece's northeast.

KIEF, as the party is known by its Greek acronym, prevailed in the regional units of Xanthi and Rodopi in the previous European Parliament elections of May 2019. In Xanthi, it got 25.24% compared to New Democracy's 24.44%, while it almost doubled New Democracy's core in Rodopi (38.00% to 19.69%). In an interview on Turkish TV station TRT Haber, Cigdem Asafoglou, the party's 36-year-old leader, said the Greek state denies the minority's "Turkish identity."

"They deny our identity. They do not take us into account. They behave as if we do not exist," Asafoglou said. "It is, indeed, very difficult to be a minority in Greece. And, being a Turkish minority is even more difficult."

Asafoglou said that instead of referring...