CERD considered the state report of Greece

Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) participated in the 75th Session of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) of the United Nations between 10 and 11 August 2009. CERD considered the state report of Greece on her implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). Melek Kirmaci, member of ABTTF International Affairs and Lobbying Group and Pervin Hayrullah, member of the Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association represented the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace at the meeting.

The Committee considered the state report of Greece for two days and directed questions to Greece on ethnical structure of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace, freedom of association, problem of Muftis and education in mother tongue. The Committee will represent their observations and advices on 28 August 2009.

The problems of the Turkish Minority were uttered at the unofficial meeting

Melek Kirmaci and Pervin Hayrullah participated in the round table meeting that was held by Helsinki Monitor on August 10th, 2009 and uttered the problems of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace. The parallel summary reports on Greece’s compliance with ICERD, which were prepared by ABTTF and BTAYTD individually, were accepted by the Secretary and the members of the Committee were informed about the issue prior to the meeting. At the unofficial meeting, Pervin Hayrullah discussed the education problem of the Turkish Minority. In addition to the examples of hate speeches in the media expressed by Hayrullah, Melek Kirmaci told the problems regarding the freedom of association that the Minority members faced. Kirmacı informed the members of the Committee about the current situation of the Turkish Minority living in Rhodes and Kos, stating that it was unacceptable not to recognize the rights of Turkish minority living on those islands due to the fact that those islands did not belong to Greece when Lausanne Treaty was signed.

Greece stated the obvious once again

Greece, that had not submitted her periodic reports since 2003, explained the problems of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace (named as “Muslim minority members in Thrace” by Greece) in details in her 19th periodic report. Maria Telalian, Legal Advisor, Head of the Section of Public International Law of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece, presented the report. Telalian stated that the Muslim minority in Thrace numbered around 100,000 persons and consisted of three distinct groups, whose members were of Turkish, Pomak and Roma origin.

Telalian also told that the policies that were implemented by the Greek State aimed at guaranteeing the integration of the Muslim minority of Thrace in the social fabric of the country, while protecting its cultural and religious identity and preventing exploitation of its problems by radical circles which wished to keep the minority marginalized with an inward-looking mentality. In that sense, any attempt of the Turkish-origin component of this minority to impose its cultural characteristics and traditions on the Pomaks and Roma components was not in conformity with the Lausanne Treaty that regulates the status of the Muslim minority in Thrace, underlined Telalian.

With regard to education in mother tongue, Greece repeated her official view, stating that school books in Greek were not studied in the kindergartens. As for the freedom of association, Greece stated that procedure about the implementation of the European Court of Human Right’s verdicts was being reviewed and a final decision was likely to be announced in December 2009.

You can reach the state report of Greece under the link http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/cerds75.htm,while information on the meeting, at which the state report of Greece was considered by the CERD, is available at: http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/(httpNewsByYear_en)/E70BAE8DBF374DD4C125760F002F9B2B?OpenDocument