|
General Situation:
The Greek Nation is based on the principle of belonging to the Greek race and the Greek Orthodox Church. On this subject, it is enough to glance at the speeches of the Greek statesmen about the "homogeneity of the Greek nation with the exception of the Muslim minority." These are out-dated concepts.
There are plenty of reports issued by the International Human Rights Organizations documenting the persecution of the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace.
If the Greek Nation is really homogeneous, one can not help but wonder about the destiny of the Albanians, the Muslim Albanians, Vlahs, Macedonians, Bulgarians, Jews as well as the Turks.
In this respect, it becomes necessary to answer the question of how homogeneity has been achieved in Greek Macedonia while ethnic variety still survives in the Republic of Macedonia.
The very existence of a Turkish Minority is officially denied in Greece. Indeed any allusion to it is punishable by law. The post office refuses to accept written communications that contain any reference to the Turkish identity of the Minority. Government leaders, even the Parliament, turn down petitions on behalf of the Minority when addressed in the name of the "Turkish" Minority.
Lawsuits were filed against the leaders of the Turkish Minority the late Dr. Sadık Ahmet and Ibrahim Serif, during the elections of 1989, for distributing campaign leaflets that referred to the Minority as Turkish.
Many members of the Turkish Minority were prosecuted during local elections on October 16, 1994 for having used the word "Turkish" in their campaign documents.
The Greek Government asserted in the years of 1954 and 1955 that the Minority was originated from the Turkish race, but later, changed its mind.
The methods which Greece uses to destroy the ethnic identity of the minority are described in the report "Destroying Ethnic Identity - The Turks of Greece" published by "Helsinki Watch" in 1990.
Human Rights Watch report of 1999 is also indicative of the problems faced by the Turkish Minority.
The Turkish identity of the minority has been established in several ways. The instruction which was conveyed to the subordinate departments by the General Secretary of Thrace, Fesopulos in 1954, saying that the minority should be called as the "Turkish Minority" must also be mentioned. This notice was repeated one year later in 1955.
Moreover, according to the provisions of the Agreement on the Exchange of Turkish and Greek Populations on January 30, 1923, the people of Greek and Turkish origin who were left out of the exchange procedure were given "Etabli Documents" . These documents mentioned their ethnic origin as Greek and Turkish.
At the international level, the document of the League of Nations submitted to the Council on December 23, 1924 and remarked C. 774 on the " Minorities of Turkish Race In Western Thrace", should also be cited.
Greek courts also have outlawed the use of the term 'Turkish Minority'. In 1988, the Greek High Court upheld a 1986 decision by the Court of Appeals of Thrace shutting down the Turkish Teachers Union of Western Thrace. The Court held that the word "Turkish" referred to citizens of Turkey and that the use of the word "Turkish" to describe Greek Moslems endangered public order. This decision led to vigorous protests from the Turkish Minority. As a result of the High Court's decision, most Turkish associations have remained closed.
In this context, the banning of the Turkish Minority associations; namely, the “Western Thrace Turkish Teacher’s Union”, the “Komotini Turkish Youth Association” and the “Turkish Union of Xanthi” has continued until today. Following the exhaustion of the internal remedies, the case concerning the banning of the Turkish Union of Xanthi was taken to the ECHR by the Minority. Also the efforts to establish the “Rodopi Turkish Woman Association” and the “Evros Prefecture Minority Youth Association” proved futile based on the same pretexts of the Greek authorities and these cases were also taken to the ECHR by the Minority.
The European Court of Human Rights expressed its decision, in a press release dated 11 October 2007, regarding the “Evros Prefecture Minority Youth Association”, to which Greek authorities failed to give the necessary permission. The Court held unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The decision became effective as of 11 January 2008.
The European Court of Human Rights also expressed its decision concerning the “Turkish Union of Xanthi” and the “Rodopi Turkish Women’s Association” on 27 March 2008.
The Court held unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the European Convention on Human Rights in both aforementioned cases. The Court also held unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 6 & 1 (right to a fair hearing within a reasonable time) of the Convention. In the case of the “Turkish Union of Xanthi”, the Court awarded the said association 8000 Euros in respect of non-pecuniary damage.
These decisions once again prove the restrictions imposed by the Greek administration not only on the freedom of assembly and association but also on the right to express ethnic identity.
|