Coalition of the Radical Left released a report on the Turkish Minority

Committee on Democratic Rights and Freedoms of the Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza) in Greece released a report on the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace and its problems. According to daily Gundem, the report discusses resolution proposals to the problems of the Minority.

The report prepared by the Committee on Democratic Rights and Freedoms of the Coalition of the Radical Left, the fourth biggest party in Greece, states that Greece should not be concerned of “collective definition rights” in minority’s rights area. As for the “collective definition”, daily Gundem quotes “…if Greece becomes a country that implements a peace-oriented policy, respects the rights of the minorities stemming from international treaties and does not invoke the reciprocity principle as a basis for refusing to implement some rights then Greece does not need to be concerned about giving rights to the minorities to exercise their collective definition rights.

Resolution proposals to the problems of the Turkish Minority

In the report, regarding the resolution proposals to the problems of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace, demands of the Minority are summarized. Main highlights from the demands of the Minority can be listed as; abolishment of the ban that is being implemented to the Turkish associations that have the adjective “Turkish” term in their titles, reimbursement of the citizenship rights to the ones that were denaturalized due to the Article 19 of the Greek Citizenship Law, opening of bilingual kindergartens, closing Special Teacher Training Academy of Thessaloniki (EPATH) and abolishment of Foundation (Vakf) Law No: 3647/2008.

Additionally, cancellation of the competences of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Intelligence Agency on the issues related to the Minority and transfer of the related competences to the Ministry of National Affairs are also advised in the report. Meanwhile, cancellation of two Superior Governorships is among the suggestions that are put forward.

As for the employment of the members of the Turkish Minority in the public sector, Committee underlines the need to focus the Law No: 3647/2008 which foresees 0.5% quato for civil servants on the Western Thrace region and demands the quato to increase to 1%. Regarding the military service, it is advised to cancel the article that prevents Muslim soldiers to become military officers.

One of the interesting points in the report is the advice regarding the Muftis problem. Instead of being elected by the Turkish Minority, election of Muftis by a Committee that will be constituted of the Turkish Minority and promoting by the State is suggested. Moreover, withdrawal of the judicial powers of Muftis is also stipulated in the report.


Source: Daily Gundem