The Greek government responded to the report on minorities in Greece of Gay McDougall, UN Independent Expert on minority issues, which was published on March 10th, 2009. The Greek government stated that every citizen had right to self-identification, rejecting the claim that the Greek state supported only one identity while preventing other groups to exercise their self identification right.
Ethnic Turkish identity of Western Thrace Turkish Minority
The Greek government commented on the claims regarding the restrictions on expressing Turkish identity by minority members, and argued that Muslim minority in Thrace consisted of three distinct groups, thus, any attempt to identify the entire Muslim minority in Thrace as “Turkish” was unacceptable, not only for political reasons, but also because it did not objectively reflect the actual composition of the whole minority.
Freedom of Association
Regarding the respect for freedom of association, the Greek government stated that minority members established various associations and NGOs which were active, adding that Greek courts registered some “Muslim” minority associations in 2008. Yet the point to be underlined here is that those registered associations are the cultural associations belonging to Pomaks or Roma, not the ones with “Turkish” term in their names. While some groups can exercise their freedom of association fully, Turkish minority still have various difficulties. Regarding the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decisions that confirmed the violation of freedom of association of the Turkish minority, the Greek government contended to take into account the ways to implement these decisions of the ECHR.
Appointment of Muftis
The Greek government claimed that during appointment process of Muftis, opinions of Muslim minority’s leaders and theology professors were taken, adding that such an advisory mechanism was necessary due to Sharia law. Moreover, defending the appointments of Muftis, the Greek government affirmed that some individuals tried to organize “Muftis elections” not in conformity with Greek laws.
Here, the point is the reality that Turkish minority has been giving so much effort to solve the Muftis problem for around 20 years, thus it is not a newly emerged issue. The Greek state clearly violates the Treaty of Athens signed between Greece and the Ottoman Empire that regulates the role of Muftis in society. Accordingly, the law foresees the election of the Muftis by the Muslims in his election territory and a Superior Mufti that has the right to audit all the Muftis. Yet, the Greek state never implemented the related law. Furthermore, the Greek government announced in February 2007 that it would hire 240 imams as public employees in Thrace, again violating the religious freedom of the minority.
Education
Greek government stated that it supported minority schools in the country in conformity with the Lausanne Treaty.
Regarding pre-school education, the Greek government only reiterated its role, claiming that kids in kindergartens had neither books nor a schedule to follow up. Thus, kindergartens were only a preparation for primary education. The Greek government obviously forgets that Turkish minority is autonomous in educational issues and furthermore the Greek government calls minority origin teachers to serve in public kindergartens instead of minority schools.
Halit Habipoglu, President of Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) stated that “The Greek government’s response is significantly far way from reflecting the truth. Instead of forming a new minority policy focused on dialogue with the Turkish minority, the Greek government once again revealed its anti-minority attitude. As long as Greece maintains is anti-minority policy, there will be no improvement in the relations between the State and minorities. Thus, in this framework, it seems impossible for Greece to achieve an improvement in her bad record of human and minorities’ rights.”
The full text of the comments of the Greek Government on the report of the Independent Expert on Minority Issues, Gay McDougall, can be retrieved here.
