The Greek Government replied on 20 March 2009 to the written statement on “Appointed Imams Law” submitted by the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) to the 10th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
In its answer, the Greek Government stated that extending the financial and social rights of a group of Greek citizens was an example of modern state, adding that such an implementation would only disturb the ones that wanted Muslim minority in Western Thrace to stay isolated from the rest of the population.
The Greek Government declared that Law 536/2007 did not include imams necessarily as they were elected by minority members, yet adding that imams could benefit from the law. The Greek Government also claimed that “appointed imams” term was a clear distortion. Regarding the Christian Committee, the Greek Government stated that the Committee investigated only the judicial records, military service and primary school diplomas.
The Greek Government asserted that Lausanne Treaty (Section II) did not refer to the Treaty of Athens and public opinion poll method for electing imams. Thus, the Greek Government claimed that Muftis were never elected by Muslim minority and Law 2345/1920 was never implemented.
The Greek Government stated that after the abolition of Law 2345/1920 in 1991, Law 1920/1991 regulated the status of Muftis. In its written answer, the Greek State asserted that leading Muslim figures contributed to the appointment process of Muftis while Muftis had judicial authority in matters of family and inheritance law.
With regard to the reply of the Greek Government, Halit Habipoglu, President of ABTTF stated: “Reply of the Greek government is significantly far away from reflecting the truth. Without solving Muftis problem, the Greek Government tries to extend the competence area of “appointed” Muftis, which is to be regarded as an attempt to limit religious autonomy of the Turkish minority. The regarding law was prepared without taking the opinion of the minority into consideration. Is this a modern state implementation?”
The reply of the Greek Government to the written statement submitted by the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) to the 10th Session of the UN Human Rights Council can be retrieved here.
