Cyprus-Forum.com

[bill cobbett]

U.S. English Foundation Research

GREECE
Language Research

4. Minority groups: To what extent are minority groups in this country disadvantaged by their language?

TURKISH

Human rights violations in the education field affect the largest number of individuals and have done the most to foster the Turkish minority's relative underdevelopment.

etc etc

Thx Stupider... that was also published in 1999...

[bill cobbett]

This was published in response to the Turkish propaganda article written by Bruce Fein on the situation of Greece's Muslim minority. As it turns out the Muslims of Greece are flourishing in stark contrast to the Greek Orthodox minority in Turkey whose population has been decimated by years of relentless persecution:

Turkish Revisionist Claims on Thrace

By Ioannis Fidanakis
Recent events taking place in the Balkans surrounding the push for an Independent Kosovo, has many eyes now turned towards Western Thrace (Thraki). Recently, Bruce Fein of the Turkish Coalition of America released an article about the supposed Human Rights abuses facing the Turkish minority in Greece. As President of the Pan Thracian Union of America ‘Orpheus’, I find it my duty to speak out openly to prevent the spread of a Turkish smear campaign, which is more laughable then a true scholarly concern for Human Rights.

Mr. Fein’s sad attempt to paint a picture of an evil oppressive Greek state towards its Muslim citizens is an irresponsible misuse of the truth. “Greece’s decade’s long campaign of cultural repression, ethnic and religious discrimination and economic marginalization of its Turkish minority”, could be nothing farther from the truth. What Mr. Fein and his Turkish friends so conveniently omit is that fact that the Muslim minority of Greece has flourished since the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne, while Turkey’s Greek Orthodox minority has slowly disappeared. I use the terms Muslim and Greek Orthodox minorities, because unlike what the Turkish lobby would like Westerners to think, these are the proper terms that should be used as set by the Treaty of Lausanne. This treaty and the population exchange between these two countries were based solely on a religious principal. The populations exchanged and those allowed to continue to reside in each respected nation were between religious and not ethnic minorities.

Against Turkish propaganda, which calls the whole Muslim minority of Thraki as strictly Turkish in origin, the currently Muslim minority is divided into several different ethnic origins, Turkish, Pomak, and Roma ethnic lines. Turkish revisionists declare that although each of these groups has their own language and culture, they represent one National identity, because the Treaty defines them as one Muslim minority rather then three separate ones. However, to forcefully push a Turkish ethnic identity upon the Pomak and Roma communities, in and of itself, is an act of ‘cultural repression’ and ‘ethnic discrimination’, in which the Turkish lobby declares to be against such an action. At present, the Greek states fulfills it’s international obligation by recognizing Greek citizen’s of the Islamic faith as a religious minority of diverse origins, rather then forcefully committing cultural genocide by forcing one cultural identity upon them.

Since the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne, the Muslim minority of Thraki has grown from 86,000 in 1922 to 120,000 today, compared to its Greek Orthodox counterpart in Turkey, which in 1922 was roughly 200,000 and today is merely 5,000. For a country and its lobby who have obviously work towards the diminishment of their own Greek Orthodox community inside their homeland to declare such a statement, while the Muslim Minority has nearly doubled in Greece boggles the rational mind.

Today in Thraki the Muslim minority is protected against discrimination and promised religious freedom in the Greek constitution under Articles 5 and 13. Thrace is home of 3 muftis, roughly 270 imams and 300 functioning mosques. Politically speaking as recent as 2002, 250 Muslim municipal and prefectural councilors and mayors were elected in local elections. The same cannot be said politically for the Greek Orthodox community in Turkey. Yet the Turkish Government and its political puppets in Thraki have the gull to complain about their political and religious situation. Declaring that the manner in which their Muftis are elected violates the Treaty of Lausanne. The Greek government instead maintains that the state-appointments of muftis is widespread in the Republic of Turkey, and hence its adherence in Greece only goes to strengthen the Greek commitment to protecting Islamic cultural traditions, as set by the Treaty of Lausanne.

One of the major differences between Greece and Turkey’s respect for the Treaty can been seen in the educational life of the Muslim and Greek Orthodox communities. In Thraki today, there are 215 primary schools, where Greek and Turkish languages are used, as well as 2 secondary schools. There are also 2 Islamic theological seminaries in Thraki, yet in Turkey the main school of theology of the Greek Orthodox Church, the Halki seminary remains closed since 1971, which is a direct contradiction to religious freedom promised in the treaty. The Republic of Turkey even goes as far as to tamper with religious affairs, not recognizing the ecumenical status of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch, and tampering in the very process that patriarchal elections are held, affecting not just the religious freedom of Greek Orthodox Christians still living inside Turkey, but also millions living outside of Turkey.

Lastly, the Muslim minority of Thraki unlike the Greek Orthodox community of Turkey has never been subjected to ethnic cleansing of any kind, politically, religiously, or economically. While the Muslims of Thraki have lived in peace inside the Greek state, except for sporadic acts of violates perpertrated by the Muslim community themselves, against local Thracians (Thrakiotis) in Thraki, most recently a month ago, where a Greek teacher was beaten by Turkish parents, this minority of Greece has never felt the stress of being a subjected people. I wish I could say the same for the Greek Orthodox community living in Turkey. Since the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne, the Greek Orthodox minority inside Turkey has been on a constant alert for the next wave of violate ethnic cleansing thrusted upon them by the Turkish state. Without going in depth of the violations committed by the Turkish state, one can merely glance over a short list of the acts of political and religious genocide that has truly been committed against a minority. In 1926, just two years after the signing of the treaty, the Turkish government revoked the right of special administrative organization of the islands of Imbros and Tenedos. The drafting of non-Muslims into labor battalions during World War II affected not only the Greek Orthodox community, but also the Armenian and Jewish communities as well. Let us not forget the Varlik Vergisi ‘Fortune Tax’ enforced mostly on non-Muslims and the parliamentary law which barred Greek citizens from several trades and professions, like medicine, law, and real estate to name a few. The most violate example of the discrimination suffered by the Greek Orthodox community is without a doubt the Istanbul Pogrom of 1955, which echoed the days of Nazi Germany’s actions against its Jewish community. When the then 150,000 strong minority suffered unspeakable acts of violence, orchestrated by the government of Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Menderes and his Demokrat Parti, acts of violence, which bus loads of local party members, police, and even Muslims from Greece participated in.

It is up to the free thinking minds of those residing here in the United States to look at these allegations and decide for themselves if the Muslim minority of Thraki is truly facing the prejudice they claim to be, or if its just another act in a long line of misleading propaganda perpetrated to be used as a screen of smoke and mirrors to keep our eyes away from the true persecuted minority from the Treaty of Lausanne, the Greek Orthodox Minority of Anatoliki Thraki (Eastern Thrace).

Ioannis Fidanakis is the President of Pan Thracian Union of America “Orpheus”.

http://www.globalpolitician.com/print.asp?id=4480

... yes and we haven't yet touched on the treatment by Turkey of the Christians of the Occupied Karpas.

[stpier]

Greece fails to respect human rights of its Turkish community

31/03/2008
According to the European Court of Human Rights Athens is failing to respect the freedom of assembly and association of Turks living in Thrace, north-eastern Greece · The Greek authorities deny the existence of a Turkish minority.
According to the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights, Greece has violated two articles of the European Convention on Human Rights in relation to the Turkish community living in Thrace. The Greek Government failed to respect the Turks’ rights to freedom of assembly and association when it rejected an application for registration from the Cultural Association of Turkish Women of the Region of Rodopi on the grounds that the association’s name referred to the Turkish origin of its members. According to a Greek court, the NGO could not be registered because only the Muslim minority is officially recognized in Greece and as such registration of the organization would pose a “threat to democratic society”.

The Greek courts also forced another organization, the Turkish Association of Xanthi, to change its name and later to disband because it described the Muslim minority of Thrace as “strongly oppressed”. In addition to these obstacles, which infringe Article 11 of the Convention, the Strasbourg Court criticized court proceedings for lasting an “excessive” amount of time, up to 21 years in some cases.

There are approximately 90,000 Turks living in Greece, according to Minority Rights Group, alongside various other minority communities, including Albanians, Vlachs, Arvanites, Macedonians, Roma and Pomaks. Only the “Muslim minority” benefits from official recognition. The only official language is Greek.

Further information:

Press release by ECHR
ABTTF:Western Thrace Turkish Minority has won a victory before the ECHR

[Demonax]

Greece fails to respect human rights of its Turkish community

31/03/2008
According to the European Court of Human Rights Athens is failing to respect the freedom of assembly and association of Turks living in Thrace, north-eastern Greece · The Greek authorities deny the existence of a Turkish minority.
According to the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights, Greece has violated two articles of the European Convention on Human Rights in relation to the Turkish community living in Thrace. The Greek Government failed to respect the Turks’ rights to freedom of assembly and association when it rejected an application for registration from the Cultural Association of Turkish Women of the Region of Rodopi on the grounds that the association’s name referred to the Turkish origin of its members. According to a Greek court, the NGO could not be registered because only the Muslim minority is officially recognized in Greece and as such registration of the organization would pose a “threat to democratic society”.

The Greek courts also forced another organization, the Turkish Association of Xanthi, to change its name and later to disband because it described the Muslim minority of Thrace as “strongly oppressed”. In addition to these obstacles, which infringe Article 11 of the Convention, the Strasbourg Court criticized court proceedings for lasting an “excessive” amount of time, up to 21 years in some cases.

There are approximately 90,000 Turks living in Greece, according to Minority Rights Group, alongside various other minority communities, including Albanians, Vlachs, Arvanites, Macedonians, Roma and Pomaks. Only the “Muslim minority” benefits from official recognition. The only official language is Greek.

Further information:

Press release by ECHR
ABTTF:Western Thrace Turkish Minority has won a victory before the ECHR

Yes and we all know how much Turkey respects the decisions of the ECHR.

Turkey again takes top spot in ECHR violations

Council of Europe urges Turkey to implement ECHR judgments

[kimon07]

Greek Pomaks Slam Turkey And Say They Are Very Satisfied Over New Education Law
________________________________________
By Hellas Frappe on 8.2.13
________________________________________

The chairman of the Panhellenic Association of Pomaks, Mr. Ahmed Imam, recently welcomed the amendment to Law No. 3536/2007 regarding the appointment of Muslim religious teachers (or Imams) in public schools. He said that his community wanted to congratulate all the parliamentarians who did not succumb to pressure (and blackmail) from the Turkish Consulate in Komotini (as well as to pressure from Ankara) over an issue which clearly only concerns the Greek state. The announcement, which was published on Voria.gr reads as follows:

"The adoption of this amendment contributes greatly to the fairness and equality between Christians and Muslims. These procedures are an internal matter of Greece and Turkey -and other foreign interests- have no right to intervene. The issue does not relate legally and historically, in any which way, with the reopening of the Theological School of Halki.

If Turkey wants to elect muftis or imams (in Greece) then it should set an example first by doing the same in its own territory. Besides, the election of the clergy is contrary to Islamic law itself, because it sows hatred, discord and antagonism among believers.

Turkish demands for such elections are purely of a political nature that are directed toward the domination of Greece (and territory) in Greek Thrace and are against the Muslim population in Thrace, which (Ankara) is trying to manipulate by trying to turn them against their own homeland Greece."

http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2013/02 ... -they.html

[stpier]

I am off to bayram holidays so chill out for a while. Happy Kurban Bayramı to all Turkey and TRNC.

United Nations Tells Greece To Recognize Its Macedonian And Turkish Minorities
Recognition of Turkish ethnicity
General Assembly

Distr. GENERAL

A/HRC/10/11/Add.3

A/HRC/10/11/Add.3
18 February 2009

Original: ENGLISH

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

Tenth session
Agenda item 3
PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF ALL HUMAN RIGHTS, CIVIL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT
13. The Independent Expert visited Western Thrace bordering Turkey in eastern Greece, including the cities of Xanthi and Komotini, where the Muslim minority resides. Many of the Muslim minority claim ethnic Turkish identity and desire to be recognized as a Turkish national minority. Community members argue that the Treaty of Lausanne does not prohibit collective ethnic identification as a Turkish minority. Many consider that their claim is misunderstood by the government as reflecting an irredentist movement under the political influence of Turkey.

14. The Government highlights that the Muslim minority in Western Thrace is not homogeneous and consists of three distinct groups whose members are of Turkish, Pomak and Roma ethnicity, each with distinct languages and cultural traditions. While acknowledging the Turkish origin of most, they claim that attempts to identify the entire Muslim community as Turkish are “not only unacceptable but [would] not correspond to existing realities and the actual composition of the Muslim minority, in accordance with objective criteria.”[3] They believe that the view of the minority as homogeneous is promoted for political reasons. Government representatives noted that its positive efforts to integrate the Muslim minority into Greek society are met with criticism from some circles which wish the minority to remain separate and clearly promoting their Turkish identity.

15. Many community members of Turkish ethnic origin firmly rejected the government position of identifying three groups within the Muslim minority. One stating: “For us being Muslim and being Turkish are one and the same.” However, the Independent Expert met individuals who self-identified as Pomak and Roma who described pressure to speak and learn Turkish instead of Pomak and to identify as Turkish. One described a climate of intimidation and pressure for their children to attend minority schools. Some stated that members of the Pomak and Roma community are discriminated against if they do other than describe themselves as Turkish.

16. Ethnic Turkish representatives state their freedom of association is violated by the 1987 Greek High Court decision that an association bearing the name “Turkish” must be dissolved. Several minority associations have ceased to function or function only informally. In February 2005, the Turkish Xanthi Union, established in 1927 was dissolved. The establishment of a Cultural Association of Turkish Women of Rodopi was rejected by the Greek Supreme Court. Community representatives stress the importance of associations for the preservation of community identity and culture. They note that Armenian associations function legally including the word “Armenian” in their names.

17. The European Court on Human Rights has consistently found against Greece when these issues have come before it,[4] concluding that Greece has violated Article 11 of the European Convention (right to freedom of association) and rejecting government attempts to justify the restriction by arguing that use of the word “Turkish” in the names of associations constitutes a threat to public order and territorial integrity. To-date, the associations have not been allowed to register under the names of their choice.

[Demonax]

However, the Independent Expert met individuals who self-identified as Pomak and Roma who described pressure to speak and learn Turkish instead of Pomak and to identify as Turkish. One described a climate of intimidation and pressure for their children to attend minority schools. Some stated that members of the Pomak and Roma community are discriminated against if they do other than describe themselves as Turkish.

Thank you, stupider. There you have it. Pressure by Turkey to create ethnic division and terrorise Greece's Muslim minority into accepting they are Turkish, even when they have no such ties.

There are many muslim communities in Western Thrace not all of which are of Turkish origin. Under Greek Law all of its citizens are viewed as Greek. This is no different than any other EU nation. In Greece there is particular sensitivity over this issue because of deliberate attempts by Turkey to create instability in a border area - for obvious reasons.

But there is no evidence of a mass exodus or systematic persecution of the Muslim minority unlike that of the once thriving Greek communities in Turkey which Turkey has managed to persecute into near extinction.

[kimon07]

What if the Patriarch were American?

By Burak Begdil 16/10/2013

.......While Mr. Bulut was busy formulating eccentric theories ( meaning the theory that Greeks would prefer to join Turkey and leave the EU)– real treasures in the realm of humor - his boss conditioned, once again, “Greek reciprocity” before his government granted legitimate rights to “Turkish” citizens. Mr. Erdogan insists that Greece should take steps to grant broader religious rights to its Turkish minority and build a mosque in Athens if it wants Turkey to reopen the Halki Orthodox theological school – and perhaps to recognize the spiritual leader of world Orthodoxy as ecumenical.

Mr. Erdogan is right that Greece should treat its Turkish minority in full compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights, and European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence. He is right to expect an EU member state to treat an ethnic minority in full compliance with European democratic culture and values, and free from any hint of political paranoia. But he is absolutely wrong to make it a matter of reciprocity when it comes to the legitimate rights of Turkish citizens of non-Turkish origin.

Mr. Erdogan should be able to understand that Turkey’s non-Turkish citizens are Turkish citizens and their rights should not be a matter of reciprocity over how a foreign country treated its own citizens of Turkish origin.

Take the case of the “Ecumenical-but-not-Ecumenical-in-Turkey” Patriarch Bartholomew II, a Turkish citizen residing in Istanbul who happens to be the spiritual leader of world Orthodoxy. As a reader reminded, there is nothing in Orthodoxy to say that the Ecumenical Patriarch must be Greek – there have been many non-Greek Ecumenical Patriarchs. The Patriarch is the ecumenical leader of the Orthodox world; he is not the Patriarch of Greece. The Orthodox leader in Greece is not Patriarch Bartholomew II, but Archbishop Ieronymos II.

Seeking Greek reciprocity is no less absurd than seeking reciprocity for Turkish minority rights in, say, Serbia – or any overwhelmingly Orthodox country - before recognizing the Ecumenical Patriarch as the Ecumenical Patriarch. What if the Patriarch were a Turkish citizen of American origin, or Lebanese?

Would Mr. Erdogan ask Washington to improve Turkish minority rights in the United States before recognizing him as what he is? Would he ask Lebanon to stop kidnapping of Turkish subjects as prerequisite to recognizing the Ecumenical Patriarch? What, really, would he do if the Patriarch were a Turkish citizen of an origin from lands where there is no Turkish minority?

Reciprocity is a nice word connoting justice. But it can be dangerous if used unjustly. As the same reader puts it: “If the Turkish prime minister is really seeking reciprocity maybe Greece should dwindle the Turkish minority to a few thousand through pogroms and deportations.”

It is a demographical fact that the Turkish minority in Greece has grown from 129,000 in 1923 to around 150,000 today; while an estimated 200,000-strong Greek population in Turkey after the 1923 exchange of populations has dramatically shrunk to less than 2,000.
Why, really, have Turkey’s Greeks have disappeared over the past half a century but Greece’s Turks have preferred to remain in their homeland?

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/what-i ... sCatID=398

[stpier]

OSCE
Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Freedom of Assembly and Association
8-9 November 2012
Session 1
Hofburg, Vienna
Name of Contact Person: Tzemil Kapza Email: [email protected] / [email protected]


FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION IN WESTERN THRACE - GREECE
The right to freedom of association is a basic fundamental human right which is stipulated by most of the
fundamental human rights instruments, like the paragraph 32.2 and 32.6 of the 1990 CSCE Copenhagen
Document, the Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Article 3.2 of the
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. Any person underlining his/her belonging
to an ethnicity, nation or religion could not form an association on individual basis. This could only be
exercised collectively.

As of 2012, the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace, the only officially-recognized minority in Greece, is
not allowed to use the words “Turk” and “Turkish” in titles and signboards of its associations on the ground
that the use of the word “Turkish” constitutes a threat to public order and territorial integrity. The
associations, which had denomination “Turk” and/or “Turkish” in their names, functioned without any
problem from the incorporation of the region into Greek territories in the early 1920s until the mid-1980s.
Since then, they have remained dissolved by court judgments and have not been re-registered yet.

From the beginning of the early 1990s, Greece officially rejects any reference to existence of a “Turkish”
minority in Western Thrace. Rather, it argues that the Minority in Western Thrace is “Muslim” and
composed of three ethnicities, i.e. those of Turkish ethnic origin, Pomaks and Roma. Every Greek citizen has
the individual right to self-identification. In this respect, every member of the Minority is free to identify
himself/herself as “Turk”. Nevertheless, those “Turks” of Greek citizenship are officially prevented to use
their right to freedom of association collectively while the establishment of associations with ethnic
denominations like “Pomak” and “Roma” are allowed by the Greek authorities, e.g. The Pomak Cultural
Association of Xanthi (functioning since 2007).

Despite the fact that there are three ECtHR rulings indicating that the freedom of association in Western
Thrace has been violated (Tourkiki Enosi Xanthis v. Greece, No: 26698/05), (Emin and others v. Greece,
No: 34144/05) (Bekir-Ousta and others v. Greece, No: 35151/05), Greece continues to ignore these rulings
and violates the freedom of association: Xanthi Turkish Union, which was established in 1927, Komotini
Turkish Youth Union (established in 1928) and Western Thrace Turkish Teachers’ Union (established in
1936) operated until 1984 remain banned by court orders on the grounds that their titles included the word
“Turkish/Minority”.

[Cap]

OSCE
Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Freedom of Assembly and Association
8-9 November 2012
Session 1
Hofburg, Vienna
Name of Contact Person: Tzemil Kapza Email: [email protected] / [email protected]


FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION IN WESTERN THRACE - GREECE
The right to freedom of association is a basic fundamental human right which is stipulated by most of the
fundamental human rights instruments, like the paragraph 32.2 and 32.6 of the 1990 CSCE Copenhagen
Document, the Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Article 3.2 of the
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. Any person underlining his/her belonging
to an ethnicity, nation or religion could not form an association on individual basis. This could only be
exercised collectively.

As of 2012, the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace, the only officially-recognized minority in Greece, is
not allowed to use the words “Turk” and “Turkish” in titles and signboards of its associations on the ground
that the use of the word “Turkish” constitutes a threat to public order and territorial integrity. The
associations, which had denomination “Turk” and/or “Turkish” in their names, functioned without any
problem from the incorporation of the region into Greek territories in the early 1920s until the mid-1980s.
Since then, they have remained dissolved by court judgments and have not been re-registered yet.

From the beginning of the early 1990s, Greece officially rejects any reference to existence of a “Turkish”
minority in Western Thrace. Rather, it argues that the Minority in Western Thrace is “Muslim” and
composed of three ethnicities, i.e. those of Turkish ethnic origin, Pomaks and Roma. Every Greek citizen has
the individual right to self-identification. In this respect, every member of the Minority is free to identify
himself/herself as “Turk”. Nevertheless, those “Turks” of Greek citizenship are officially prevented to use
their right to freedom of association collectively while the establishment of associations with ethnic
denominations like “Pomak” and “Roma” are allowed by the Greek authorities, e.g. The Pomak Cultural
Association of Xanthi (functioning since 2007).

Despite the fact that there are three ECtHR rulings indicating that the freedom of association in Western
Thrace has been violated (Tourkiki Enosi Xanthis v. Greece, No: 26698/05), (Emin and others v. Greece,
No: 34144/05) (Bekir-Ousta and others v. Greece, No: 35151/05), Greece continues to ignore these rulings
and violates the freedom of association: Xanthi Turkish Union, which was established in 1927, Komotini
Turkish Youth Union (established in 1928) and Western Thrace Turkish Teachers’ Union (established in
1936) operated until 1984 remain banned by court orders on the grounds that their titles included the word
“Turkish/Minority”.