U.S. 2011 International Religious Freedom Report on Greece released

ABTTF President Halit Habipoğlu: As ABTTF, we will prepare a shadow report as in the previous and express the views of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace on the matters left incomplete in the U.S. report

The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor of the U.S. Department of State released the 2011 International Religious Freedom Report on Greece. In the report, which also addresses to the problems “the Muslim minority in Thrace (Turkish Minority of Western Thrace)” faces in the area of religious freedom, it is stated the Greek Orthodox Church exercises significant social, political, and economic influence.

The report points out that the Greek government does not keep statistics on religious groups and it is stated the “Muslim minority” recognized officially by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne consists of an estimated 140,000 to 150,000 individuals /approximately 1.3 percent of the Greek population) resid-ing in Thrace.

It is noted in the report the rights of the “Muslim minority in Thrace” was guaranteed by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and the Greek government maintains that Muslims living outside Thrace are not covered by the Treaty of Lausanne and therefore do not enjoy the rights provided by the treaty to Muslims residing in Thrace.

It is stated in the report differences remained between the some Muslim Turkish minority and the Greek government regarding the process of selecting muftis and imams and the government contin-ued to maintain it has the right to appoint muftis since they perform judicial Sharia function but on the other hand, some members of the Muslim minority objected to the government’s appointment of muftis.

It is mentioned although the principal was written off by the Greek government, it continued to claim that waqfs (charitable organizations) in Thrace owed interest on their tax debt totalling ap-proximately one million euros ($1.3 million). Members of the Muslim minority protested the government’s position and lobbied for the interest to be written off as well.

The report notes attacks against non-Orthodox groups in the country, stating that in March un-known perpetrators damaged the exterior of the Uysallı mosque in Rodopi prefecture, in February unknown perpetrators damaged approximately 10 gravestones at the Muslim cemetery in the city of Komotini and in July unknown perpetrators nailed a pig’s head on the wooden door of the historic Halil Bey mosque in Kavala.

“The U.S. 2011 International Religious Freedom Report is important as it mentions the problems of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace together with the other non-Orthodox religious groups in Greece. As ABTTF, we will prepare a shadow report as in the previous and express those problems in a more detailed way in it.” said Halit Habipoğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).