TURKISH REVISIONIST CLAIMS ON THRACE
Ioannis Fidanakis
Global Politician
y
April 11 2008
NY
Recent events taking place in the Balkans surrounding the push for an
Independent Kosovo, has many eyes now turned towards Western Thrace
(Thraki). Recently, Bruce Fein of the Turkish Coalition of America
released an article about the supposed Human Rights abuses facing the
Turkish minority in Greece. As President of the Pan Thracian Union of
America ‘Orpheus’, I find it my duty to speak out openly to prevent
the spread of a Turkish smear campaign, which is more laughable then
a true scholarly concern for Human Rights.
Mr. Fein’s sad attempt to paint a picture of an evil oppressive
Greek state towards its Muslim citizens is an irresponsible misuse of
the truth. "Greece’s decade’s long campaign of cultural repression,
ethnic and religious discrimination and economic marginalization of
its Turkish minority", could be nothing farther from the truth. What
Mr. Fein and his Turkish friends so conveniently omit is that fact that
the Muslim minority of Greece has flourished since the signing of the
Treaty of Lausanne, while Turkey’s Greek Orthodox minority has slowly
disappeared. I use the terms Muslim and Greek Orthodox minorities,
because unlike what the Turkish lobby would like Westerners to think,
these are the proper terms that should be used as set by the Treaty
of Lausanne. This treaty and the population exchange between these two
countries were based solely on a religious principal. The populations
exchanged and those allowed to continue to reside in each respected
nation were between religious and not ethnic minorities.
Against Turkish propaganda, which calls the whole Muslim minority of
Thraki as strictly Turkish in origin, the currently Muslim minority
is divided into several different ethnic origins, Turkish, Pomak, and
Roma ethnic lines. Turkish revisionists declare that although each
of these groups has their own language and culture, they represent
one National identity, because the Treaty defines them as one Muslim
minority rather then three separate ones. However, to forcefully push a
Turkish ethnic identity upon the Pomak and Roma communities, in and of
itself, is an act of ‘cultural repression’ and ‘ethnic discrimination’,
in which the Turkish lobby declares to be against such an action. At
present, the Greek states fulfills it’s international obligation
by recognizing Greek citizen’s of the Islamic faith as a religious
minority of diverse origins, rather then forcefully committing cultural
genocide by forcing one cultural identity upon them.
Since the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne, the Muslim minority of
Thraki has grown from 86,000 in 1922 to 120,000 today, compared to
its Greek Orthodox counterpart in Turkey, which in 1922 was roughly
200,000 and today is merely 5,000. For a country and its lobby who have
obviously work towards the diminishment of their own Greek Orthodox
community inside their homeland to declare such a statement, while the
Muslim Minority has nearly doubled in Greece boggles the rational mind.
Today in Thraki the Muslim minority is protected against discrimination
and promised religious freedom in the Greek constitution under
Articles 5 and 13. Thrace is home of 3 muftis, roughly 270 imams and
300 functioning mosques. Politically speaking as recent as 2002,
250 Muslim municipal and prefectural councilors and mayors were
elected in local elections. The same cannot be said politically for
the Greek Orthodox community in Turkey. Yet the Turkish Government and
its political puppets in Thraki have the gull to complain about their
political and religious situation. Declaring that the manner in which
their Muftis are elected violates the Treaty of Lausanne. The Greek
government instead maintains that the state-appointments of muftis
is widespread in the Republic of Turkey, and hence its adherence in
Greece only goes to strengthen the Greek commitment to protecting
Islamic cultural traditions, as set by the Treaty of Lausanne.
One of the major differences between Greece and Turkey’s respect for
the Treaty can been seen in the educational life of the Muslim and
Greek Orthodox communities. In Thraki today, there are 215 primary
schools, where Greek and Turkish languages are used, as well as 2
secondary schools. There are also 2 Islamic theological seminaries in
Thraki, yet in Turkey the main school of theology of the Greek Orthodox
Church, the Halki seminary remains closed since 1971, which is a direct
contradiction to religious freedom promised in the treaty. The Republic
of Turkey even goes as far as to tamper with religious affairs, not
recognizing the ecumenical status of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch,
and tampering in the very process that patriarchal elections are held,
affecting not just the religious freedom of Greek Orthodox Christians
still living inside Turkey, but also millions living outside of Turkey.
Lastly, the Muslim minority of Thraki unlike the Greek Orthodox
community of Turkey has never been subjected to ethnic cleansing of any
kind, politically, religiously, or economically. While the Muslims of
Thraki have lived in peace inside the Greek state, except for sporadic
acts of violates perpertrated by the Muslim community themselves,
against local Thracians (Thrakiotis) in Thraki, most recently a month
ago, where a Greek teacher was beaten by Turkish parents, this minority
of Greece has never felt the stress of being a subjected people. I
wish I could say the same for the Greek Orthodox community living
in Turkey. Since the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne, the Greek
Orthodox minority inside Turkey has been on a constant alert for the
next wave of violate ethnic cleansing thrusted upon them by the Turkish
state. Without going in depth of the violations committed by the
Turkish state, one can merely glance over a short list of the acts of
political and religious genocide that has truly been committed against
a minority. In 1926, just two years after the signing of the treaty,
the Turkish government revoked the right of special administrative
organization of the islands of Imbros and Tenedos. The drafting of
non-Muslims into labor battalions during World War II affected not
only the Greek Orthodox community, but also the Armenian and Jewish
communities as well. Let us not forget the Varlik Vergisi ‘Fortune Tax’
enforced mostly on non-Muslims and the parliamentary law which barred
Greek citizens from several trades and professions, like medicine,
law, and real estate to name a few. The most violate example of the
discrimination suffered by the Greek Orthodox community is without
a doubt the Istanbul Pogrom of 1955, which echoed the days of Nazi
Germany’s actions against its Jewish community. When the then 150,000
strong minority suffered unspeakable acts of violence, orchestrated
by the government of Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Menderes and his
Demokrat Parti, acts of violence, which bus loads of local party
members, police, and even Muslims from Greece participated in.
It is up to the free thinking minds of those residing here in the
United States to look at these allegations and decide for themselves
if the Muslim minority of Thraki is truly facing the prejudice they
claim to be, or if its just another act in a long line of misleading
propaganda perpetrated to be used as a screen of smoke and mirrors
to keep our eyes away from the true persecuted minority from the
Treaty of Lausanne, the Greek Orthodox Minority of Anatoliki Thraki
(Eastern Thrace).
Ioannis Fidanakis is the President of Pan Thracian Union of America
"Orpheus".
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
