Komotini: Funding and square concession to hospitality SEM
The Municipality of Komotini has allocated Central Square and the Region approved 1,500 euros in funding for the Minority Scientists Association's 14th Youth Festival on August 2, 2026.
The Municipality of Komotini is proceeding with the allocation of the use of outdoor municipal public space in the Central Square of Komotini, through a decision by Deputy Mayor of Finance Efstratios Tsakiridis, to the “Association of Minority Scientists of Western Thrace (SEMDTH) – ‘Young Students Group'”.
The permit concerns the holding of the 14th Youth Festival on Sunday, August 2, 2026 (from 07:00 to 24:00), with the placement of a stage alongside the tourist kiosk. The application was submitted by the association’s president, Zeynep Tefik Oglou.
At the same time, the Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, through a decision of the Regional Committee under the presidency of Nikolaos Efkarpidis, approves the co-organization of the event and the coverage of the cost for the sound and lighting coverage of the festival, amounting to 1,500 euros, within the framework of the cultural co-organization program of the R.U. of Rodopi.
The Association of Minority Scientists of Western Thrace was founded in 1982, is based in Komotini and numbers 1,350 members-graduates of higher education institutions. According to its statute, the event aims to promote volunteerism, cultural heritage and the multiculturalism of the region.
Editor’s Comment
RodopiPress’s comment: From the official documents and decisions of the local government authorities, it appears that both the Municipality of Komotini and the Region of E.M.T. provide full financial, accounting and spatial support to the Association of Minority Scientists. It is a given and self-evident that every association in the region that operates legally must be supported by the institutional bodies. However, in this particular case, the leadership of this specific association is chronically and inextricably linked to the pro-consular system of the region, while in previous years not a few “incidents” and provocative references have been recorded during this event. The reasonable question that arises to the administration of the Municipality and the Region is whether, beyond the formal bureaucratic requirements regarding noise pollution and traffic, the necessary national and institutional safeguards have been put in place, so that a cultural event funded by the hardship of the Greek taxpayer does not turn into a platform for promoting the revisionist agenda of the Turkish Consulate.
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Source: Municipality of Komotini (Directorate of Financial Services) / Region of E.M.T. (Minutes of Regional Committee) Editing: Nikos Arvanitis
Source: TAXIARCHISpress
