Western Thrace Turkish Minority members attended the OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting

Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) attended the Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) between 9 and 10 July, 2009. Fatma Resit, member of International Affairs and Lobbying Group of ABTTF and Pervin Hayrullah, member of the Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association represented the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace at the meeting.

In addition to 56 OSCE member countries, 112 non-governmental organizations attended the meeting that lasted 2 days. Focuses of the meeting were the “from commitments to implementation: freedom of religion or belief in OSCE area”, “status of religious or belief communities” and “places of worship”.

Problem of Muftis and “Appointed Imams Law”

Ms. Hayrullah took the floor at the opening session and stated that members of the Muslim Turkish minority of Western Thrace have the right to decide whether to choose the Sharia Law or Greek Civil Law regarding the family and inheritance issues, yet Mufti’s judicial decisions do not take into effect unless approved by competent Greek Courts.

At the second session on status of religious or belief communities on July 10th, Ms. Resit, clearly stated that states should in no way intervene to any matters regarding issues of faith, belief, or the organization of a religious group. Thus, Ms. Resit stated that the Law 3536/2007 envisaging appointment of 240 imams to serve as public servants for the appointed muftis of Komotini, Xanthi and Dimetoka clearly violated “freedom of religion and belief” of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace.

Mosques and the height of minarets

At the last session of the meeting on places of worship, Ms. Resit said that although the Greek Constitution guaranteed freedom of religion and belief, there was neither appropriate place for exercising religious activities nor graveyard in Athens where more than 300.000 Muslims live. Ms. Resit expressed that Western Thrace Turkish Minority faced serious problems in restoring and building mosques, adding that height of minarets was another source of conflict. Furthermore, she drew attention to the problems the Turkish Minority living in Rhodes and Kos islands face when practicing their religion, and noted that only one of the still existing 12 mosques in Rhodes was open for religious services.

Regarding the places of worship, Ms. Hayrullah analyzed the problem of the height of minarets from a historical perspective stating that mosques in Demirbeyli, Kalenderköy and Sirkeli villages in Western Thrace had minaret building problems.