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  • Is Mr. Fein Talking About Greece?

    IS MR. FEIN TALKING ABOUT GREECE?
    Aris Anganos

    Global Politician
    http://globalpolitician.com/24741-greec e-turkey
    May 15 2008
    NY

    The 3/24/08 article by Mr. Bruce Fein entitled "Greek Human Rights
    Violations against its Turkish Minority in Western Thrace" demonstrates
    a striking lack of knowledge of the situation on the ground in Greece,
    particularly over the last 15 years.

    Mr. Fein lists himself as a "Resident Scholar" at the Turkish
    Coalition of America. Unfortunately, he does not seem to have done
    much scholarly research on the subject because his article contains
    several inaccuracies and distortions.

    What is worse, the reference at the end of the article to the Islamic
    world can be construed as an attempt to place the minorities' issue in
    the context of a "battle of civilizations." This is not only wrong and
    obsolete in terms of a modern vision of a multicultural and tolerant
    world, but also raises questions as to the real motives of the writer.

    >From a Greek perspective, the aim is to smoothly integrate the members
    of her Muslim minority - not only persons of Turkish origin - in the
    political, social, educational, and economic life of the country
    where they live, namely Greece, while preserving their religious,
    linguistic, and cultural identity. The aim is definitely not to
    isolate them in ghettos on the basis of their religious belief!

    Regarding the "facts" that the author invokes, let me address them
    one by one:

    1. The term "Muslim minority" stems from the Lausanne Treaty of
    1923 and the Agreement on the Exchange of Populations of 1923: not
    all Muslims of Thrace are of Turkish origin, as the minority also
    comprises Pomaks and Roma.

    The Treaty of Lausanne has been governing the status of the Muslim
    minority in Thrace since 1923. This has regrettably not been the case
    in Turkey as far as her minorities are concerned, including the Greek
    one. Successive Turkish governments have harassed Greek, Armenian,
    and other minorities to the point of extinction. The once 100,000
    strong thriving Greek minority of Istanbul was practically wiped
    out in the September 1955 pogrom and its aftermath. The cultural and
    physical abuse of the Armenians is well known and that of the Kurds
    has recently come to the world's attention. All these violations and
    numerous others have been committed by a close ally of the U.S. and
    a country aspiring to become a member of the European Union.

    2. The reference to "salaries" allegedly paid only to Greek Christian
    families with three children or more is not factually correct. The
    special allowance is granted to all families of Greek citizens with
    three or more children, regardless of religion or origin.

    3. Mr. Fein refers to people who left the country permanently and lost
    their citizenship. The applicable Article 19 of the Nationality Code,
    which provided that any Greek citizen who left the country with no
    intention of returning lost his or her citizenship, was repealed in
    1988. Nowadays, there are less than 30 stateless people residing
    in Thrace. These people have been granted Special Identity Cards
    in accordance with the UN Convention of stateless persons and are
    currently in the process of acquiring Greek citizenship.

    4. The Muftis (religious practitioners) as in other countries
    (Turkey included) are appointed on the basis of a procedure in
    which prominent personalities, theology professors, and members of
    the minority, are consulted. In addition to their religious duties
    they also perform certain administrative and judicial functions in
    the areas of family and inheritance law. The minority's religious
    rights are fully respected and can be exercised with no impediment:
    apart from the 3 mufti offices, there are 300 mosques and 370 imams in
    Thrace. Furthermore, in accordance with a newly adopted law, another
    240 imams are in the process of being appointed to the Mufti offices.

    This policy contrasts with the severe restrictions on the Orthodox
    Patriarchate in Istanbul, which has been the seat of the Greek Orthodox
    religion for centuries. The Patriarchate's Theological School of
    Halki has been closed and is prohibited from operating. Many of
    the properties of the Patriarchate have been confiscated without
    compensation.

    5. Mr. Fein claims that the requirement that a political party must
    receive 3 percent of the vote in the previous election to be included
    in Parliament is discriminatory. This requirement applies to all
    political parties. Similar percentages exist in other countries. As a
    matter of fact, the required percentage in Turkey is 10 percent. It is
    worth mentioning that the Muslim minority is usually represented in the
    Greek parliament. Currently, there are two Muslim members of Parliament
    while there are about 290 Muslims in prefectural and town councils.

    6. As for education, education for the members of the minority is
    provided in 215 primary and 4 secondary minority schools as well as 2
    Koranic schools which operate in Thrace, employing around 400 Muslim
    teachers. Courses are taught equally in Greek and Turkish. Turkish
    language courses have been introduced, on a pilot basis, in some
    public high schools, to serve the needs of the members of the minority.

    To illustrate the alleged "plight" of the Muslim minority in Thrace,
    Greece has not only implemented the Treaty of Lausanne obligations,
    but has taken affirmative measures for the minority's benefit in the
    field of education. A quota for the admission of Muslim students
    to Universities and Higher Technical Schools has been established
    recently. By 2007, 469 students had benefited from it. Greece has
    also introduced recently a similar quota for members of the Muslim
    minority to take part in the examinations for the appointment and
    employment in the public sector.

    The affirmative measures were expanded to the financial situation
    of the Muslim Foundations in Thrace: legislation has been enacted
    to exempt them from submitting Tax Declarations on income and land
    property up to January 1, 2007. Consequently, their accumulated
    registered debts, fines, and existing mortgages by that date were
    forgiven. The new law on the Muslim minority charitable foundations,
    adopted by the Greek Parliament in February 2008, has improved the
    legal framework governing their operation and provides inter alia,
    for the election of their Governing Councils.

    Reading about the "plundering" of the property of the foundations that
    Mr. Fein mentions, I cannot help thinking of the situation prevailing
    in the case of the Greek minority in Turkey, which is supposed to be
    governed by the very same Treaty of Lausanne: 24 Foundations have been
    seized, a significant number of properties has been confiscated under
    various pretexts and in many cases sold to third persons. Mr. Fein
    might be interested in examining the practices of the Turkish General
    Directorate of Foundations.

    Recalling the Treaty of Lausanne and the Helsinki Final Act principles
    that the author evokes, one must ask whatever has become of the rights
    of the Ecumenical Patriarchate based in Istanbul? The harassment
    of the Patriarchate, the confiscation of its properties and the
    requirement that the Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch be a Turkish
    citizen are literally choking the ancient seat of the Greek Orthodox
    Church. The parallel prohibition of the functioning of the Orthodox
    Theological School of Halki thus assures the ultimate demise of the
    Church in Turkey.

    Whatever has become for the rights of minority education for the Greeks
    in Turkey? Whatever has become of the minority education on the Greek
    islands of Imvros and Tenedos which were ceded to Turkey in the Treaty
    of Lausanne because they are at the mouth of the Dardanelles? Or the
    self administration granted to these two islands by the Treaty of
    Lausanne? The list of violations of that Treaty by Turkey is very long.

    It would be worthwhile having a closer look at these issues and
    pointing to the real injustices and not brining in notions of
    "battles." These notions can only exacerbate issues and create
    resentment which, I believe, serves neither the interests of Greece
    nor those of Turkey. Surely, the creation of conflict along religious
    lines between two major allies is something we would certainly not
    like to see in the U.S.

    Is Mr. Fein nostalgic for mentalities dating back to the dark days
    of the collapsing Ottoman Empire? Or?
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