The Turkish Minority Consultation Board of Western Thrace has demostrated a
strong reaction to the said Presidential Decree through its statement on 21
June 2019. Our Ministry fully shares the views expressed in that statement.
Firstly, Greece violates the Lausanne Peace Treaty, by failing to recognize
the Muftis elected by the Turkish Minority. This time, instead of
correcting its wrongful practices, Greece has aggravated its violations by
putting the office of the Mufti and the work of the Minority Muftis under
the control of a newly established government department.
The said decree, which contains regulations regarding the administrative
status, structure and the jurisdiction capacity of Muftis is the clear
violation of the 1923 Lausanne Peace Treaty which gurantees the Minority’s
right to establish and administer its own religious and charity
institutions.
The decree, whose first draft was tabled in August 2018 and met with the
Minority’s rightful strong reaction, disregards the rights of the Turkish
Minority in Greece guaranteed by the Lausanne Peace Treaty also on the
basis of reciprocity. The decree, which is clearly aiming at destroying the
institutional autonomy of the Muftis by transforming them into an ordinary
government department, is not acceptable to the Turkish Minority in Greece.
Greece neither made a comprehensive and candid communication with the
representatives of the Minority nor took their views. Instead it entrusted
certain circles responsible for religious affairs in the state system to
prepare this decree who are known to be the source of the problems and
their oppression practices to the Turkish Minority. This demonstrates once
again that the Greek mentality towards the Minority is far from good
intentions.
What Greece has to do is to recognize the elected Muftis and turn away from
its mistake of imposing illegally appointed Muftis.
We also expect Greece to implement the decisions of the European Court of
Human Rights regarding non-governmental organizations, which were forbidden
by Greek authorities due to bearing the word “Turk” in their names; to
ensure that the Minority have full control over its waqfs and waqf
properties; to re-naturalize the members of the Minority who have been
deprived of citizenship due to the repealed Article 19 of the Greek
Citizenship Law; and, to meet the demands on opening Minority kindergartens
and Minority schools at other levels.
This development further worsens the negative record of Greece violating
the religious freedom and rights of the Turkish Minority and the very fact
that it takes place in an EU country is an additional source of concern.
We invite international and regional organizations as well as the EU
institutions to monitor the situation of human rights in Greece to carry
out impartial investigations about Greece's legal actions that contradict
the European values and universal human rights.
Turkey will continue to advocate the rightful interests and demands of the
Turkish Minority in Greece, and reiterates that any improvement in the
rights of the Minority will have a positive impact on our bilateral
relations.