ABTTF President: “We demand from the government to establish a direct dialogue with our community on all matters concerning our community, and to adopt a genuine policy based on sincerity rather than a one-sided, imposing, and discriminatory approach towards our community. We want our parallel report on our issues with our religious autonomy to be perceived as proof of our search for dialogue with the government.”
The Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) prepared a parallel report in response to the issues related to Turkish community in Western Thrace in the “2021 Report on Incidents Against Places of Religious Importance in Greece” published by the Greek Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs on 3 January 2023 and forwarded it to the Greek President, the Greek Minister of Education and Religious Affairs and other relevant public authorities.
In its parallel report, ABTTF detailed the issues faced by the Turkish community in Western Thrace, which has religious autonomy in accordance with bilateral and international agreements and expressed its views and demands. In addition, ABTTF also touched upon the situation of the mosques and places of worship in Western Thrace, as well as the religious issues of the Turkish community in Rhodes, Kos and the Dodecanese Islands, and current issues with respect to the preservation of historical, architectural, and cultural artifacts inherited from the Ottoman period in the islands.
Criticising the report published by the Ministry for containing incomplete and contradictory information on the issues related to the Turkish community in Western Thrace and that for not addressing the issues faced by the Turkish community in the religious field, ABTTF indicated that the report completely reflects the official state view.
Noting that in the report of the Ministry, the 1830 Protocol, the 1881 Treaty, the 1913 Treaty of Treaty and the 1923 Lausanne Peace Treaty, which determined the status and rights of the Turkish community in Western Thrace in the religious field, are not mentioned at all.ABTTF underlined that the religious autonomy of the Turkish society, which has been made autonomous in the religious field by bilateral and international agreements, is constantly violated and ignored by various laws and practices, and the last example of this is the “Modernization of Mufti Offices in Thrace” numbered 4964/2022, which was adopted by the Greek Parliament in July 2022. ABTTF stated that the law titled "The Law" was prepared, and that the views and objections of the Western Thrace Turkish community, which is the direct addressee of the issue, were not taken into account in any way.
Noting that in the report of the Ministry, the 1830 Protocol, the 1881 Treaty, the 1913 Treaty of Athens and the 1923 Lausanne Peace Treaty, which determined the status and rights of the Turkish community in Western Thrace in the religious field, are not mentioned at all, ABTTF indicated that while the state did not interfere with the inner workings of the communities belonging to other recognised religions in the country, it took away the right of the Turkish community to elect its own muftis. Underlining that the religious autonomy of the Turkish community, which has been made autonomous in the religious field by bilateral and international agreements is persistently violated by various laws and practices, ABTTF noted that the last example of this was Law No. 4964/2022 known as ‘‘Modernisation of the Mufti Offices in Thrace’’ which was adopted by the Greek Parliament in July 2022, it was further indicated that while the law was being prepared, the views and objections of the Turkish community in Western Thrace which was the direct addressee of the issue, were not taken into account in any way.
Noting that with Law No 4964/2022, the administrative functioning of the autonomous mufti is completely under the control of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs and transformed into public institutions affiliated to the Ministry, ABTTF underscored that with the relevant law, the state is able to establish full control and supervision over the autonomous mufti offices and thus, it explained that the aim is to completely eliminate the religious autonomy of the Turkish community.
Furthermore, ABTTF noted that Law 4713/2020 of 29 July 2020 on the ‘‘Improvement of Special Education and Other Emergency Provisions’’ is another direct state intervention in the functioning of autonomous religious schools (madrasahs) belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace, and it criticised the fact that, in accordance with the aforementioned law in February 2021 and in violation of bilateral and international agreements, with the law signed by the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, deputy muftis appointed by the government that are not recognised by the Turkish community were nominated to head the school board councils of the madrasahs in Komotini and Xanthi.
Regarding attacks made on religious sites, ABTTF indicated that in January 2022, an unidentified person or persons hung an anti-Islamic poster which read ‘‘Stop the Islamisation of Evros now!’’ to the wall opposite to the historical Çelebi Sultan Mehmet Mosque in Didymoteicho which is a historical heritage from the Ottoman Empire and which was damaged in a fire in 2017 and where restoration works are still ongoing.
ABTTF indicated that the statements in the Ministry’s report that the planning procedures for the renovation of mosques in Western Thrace and the construction of new mosques belonging to the Turkish community were simplified does not reflect the truth, and noted that the ongoing planning problems of mosques, especially in the mountainous regions of Western Thrace have been continuing for years. Demanding that the historical Çelebi Sultan Mehmet Mosque in Didymoteicho, which was damaged in the fire, be restored quickly and preserved for future generations as part of the architectural heritage, ABTTF criticised the fact that a significant portion of the Ottoman-era mosques across the country have been left abandoned and some of them subjected to long restoration processes. ABTTF also noted that in Thessaloniki, the country’s second largest city, where thousands of Muslims live, there are still no mosques and Muslim cemeteries open for worship.
“In this year’s report of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, we see that the official state thesis is repeated, our objections to the interventions in our religious autonomy are ignored, and a unilateral and imposing approach is pursued. The new law with respect to the mufti offices, which aims to completely abolish our religious autonomy, is null and void for our community. On the other hand, the statement in the preface of the Ministry’s report that priorities were determined for the establishment of a new institutional framework for the religious schools in Western Thrace and the religious officials in our community is alarming. While the state does not interfere with the structure and internal functioning of the communities of other well-known religions in our country, it ignores our religious autonomy when it comes to our community, interferes with our religious autonomy at every opportunity, and portrays these interventions as positive steps for our community. We demand from the government to establish a direct dialogue with our community on all matters concerning our community, and to adopt a genuine policy based on sincerity rather than a one-sided, imposing, and discriminatory approach towards our community. We want our parallel report on our issues with our religious autonomy to be perceived as proof of our search for dialogue with the government”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
