Home >> Europe >> Greece  Email  Print Is Mr. Fein talking about Greece? Aris Anganos - 5/14/2008 The 3/24/08 article by Mr. Bruce Fein entitled “Greek Human Rights Violations against its Turkish Minority in Western Thrace” demonstrates a striking lack of knowledge of the situation on the ground in Greece, particularly over the last 15 years.
Mr. Fein lists himself as a “Resident Scholar” at the Turkish Coalition of America. Unfortunately, he does not seem to have done much scholarly research on the subject because his article contains several inaccuracies and distortions.
What is worse, the reference at the end of the article to the Islamic world can be construed as an attempt to place the minorities’ issue in the context of a “battle of civilizations.” This is not only wrong and obsolete in terms of a modern vision of a multicultural and tolerant world, but also raises questions as to the real motives of the writer.
From a Greek perspective, the aim is to smoothly integrate the members of her Muslim minority – not only persons of Turkish origin – in the political, social, educational, and economic life of the country where they live, namely Greece, while preserving their religious, linguistic, and cultural identity. The aim is definitely not to isolate them in ghettos on the basis of their religious belief!
Regarding the “facts” that the author invokes, let me address them one by one:
1. The term “Muslim minority” stems from the Lausanne Treaty of 1923 and the Agreement on the Exchange of Populations of 1923: not all Muslims of Thrace are of Turkish origin, as the minority also comprises Pomaks and Roma.
The Treaty of Lausanne has been governing the status of the Muslim minority in Thrace since 1923. This has regrettably not been the case in Turkey as far as her minorities are concerned, including the Greek one. Successive Turkish governments have harassed Greek, Armenian, and other minorities to the point of extinction. The once 100,000 strong thriving Greek minority of Istanbul was practically wiped out in the September 1955 pogrom and its aftermath. The cultural and physical abuse of the Armenians is well known and that of the Kurds has recently come to the world’s attention. All these violations and numerous others have been committed by a close ally of the U.S. and a country aspiring to become a member of the European Union.
2. The reference to “salaries” allegedly paid only to Greek Christian families with three children or more is not factually correct. The special allowance is granted to all families of Greek citizens with three or more children, regardless of religion or origin.
3. Mr. Fein refers to people who left the country permanently and lost their citizenship. The applicable Article 19 of the Nationality Code, which provided that any Greek citizen who left the country with no intention of returning lost his or her citizenship, was repealed in 1988. Nowadays, there are less than 30 stateless people residing in Thrace. These people have been granted Special Identity Cards in accordance with the UN Convention of stateless persons and are currently in the process of acquiring Greek citizenship.
4. The Muftis (religious practitioners) as in other countries (Turkey included) are appointed on the basis of a procedure in which prominent personalities, theology professors, and members of the minority, are consulted. In addition to their religious duties they also perform certain administrative and judicial functions in the areas of family and inheritance law. The minority’s religious rights are fully respected and can be exercised with no impediment: apart from the 3 mufti offices, there are 300 mosques and 370 imams in Thrace. Furthermore, in accordance with a newly adopted law, another 240 imams are in the process of being appointed to the Mufti offices.
This policy contrasts with the severe restrictions on the Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul, which has been the seat of the Greek Orthodox religion for centuries. The Patriarchate’s Theological School of Halki has been closed and is prohibited from operating. Many of the properties of the Patriarchate have been confiscated without compensation.
5. Mr. Fein claims that the requirement that a political party must receive 3 percent of the vote in the previous election to be included in Parliament is discriminatory. This requirement applies to all political parties. Similar percentages exist in other countries. As a matter of fact, the required percentage in Turkey is 10 percent. It is worth mentioning that the Muslim minority is usually represented in the Greek parliament. Currently, there are two Muslim members of Parliament while there are about 290 Muslims in prefectural and town councils.
6. As for education, education for the members of the minority is provided in 215 primary and 4 secondary minority schools as well as 2 Koranic schools which operate in Thrace, employing around 400 Muslim teachers. Courses are taught equally in Greek and Turkish. Turkish language courses have been introduced, on a pilot basis, in some public high schools, to serve the needs of the members of the minority.
To illustrate the alleged “plight” of the Muslim minority in Thrace, Greece has not only implemented the Treaty of Lausanne obligations, but has taken affirmative measures for the minority’s benefit in the field of education. A quota for the admission of Muslim students to Universities and Higher Technical Schools has been established recently. By 2007, 469 students had benefited from it. Greece has also introduced recently a similar quota for members of the Muslim minority to take part in the examinations for the appointment and employment in the public sector.
The affirmative measures were expanded to the financial situation of the Muslim Foundations in Thrace: legislation has been enacted to exempt them from submitting Tax Declarations on income and land property up to January 1, 2007. Consequently, their accumulated registered debts, fines, and existing mortgages by that date were forgiven. The new law on the Muslim minority charitable foundations, adopted by the Greek Parliament in February 2008, has improved the legal framework governing their operation and provides inter alia, for the election of their Governing Councils.
Reading about the “plundering” of the property of the foundations that Mr. Fein mentions, I cannot help thinking of the situation prevailing in the case of the Greek minority in Turkey, which is supposed to be governed by the very same Treaty of Lausanne: 24 Foundations have been seized, a significant number of properties has been confiscated under various pretexts and in many cases sold to third persons. Mr. Fein might be interested in examining the practices of the Turkish General Directorate of Foundations.
Recalling the Treaty of Lausanne and the Helsinki Final Act principles that the author evokes, one must ask whatever has become of the rights of the Ecumenical Patriarchate based in Istanbul? The harassment of the Patriarchate, the confiscation of its properties and the requirement that the Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch be a Turkish citizen are literally choking the ancient seat of the Greek Orthodox Church. The parallel prohibition of the functioning of the Orthodox Theological School of Halki thus assures the ultimate demise of the Church in Turkey.
Whatever has become for the rights of minority education for the Greeks in Turkey? Whatever has become of the minority education on the Greek islands of Imvros and Tenedos which were ceded to Turkey in the Treaty of Lausanne because they are at the mouth of the Dardanelles? Or the self administration granted to these two islands by the Treaty of Lausanne? The list of violations of that Treaty by Turkey is very long.
It would be worthwhile having a closer look at these issues and pointing to the real injustices and not brining in notions of “battles.” These notions can only exacerbate issues and create resentment which, I believe, serves neither the interests of Greece nor those of Turkey. Surely, the creation of conflict along religious lines between two major allies is something we would certainly not like to see in the U.S.
Is Mr. Fein nostalgic for mentalities dating back to the dark days of the collapsing Ottoman Empire? Or?
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