ABTTF President: “With this draft law, the institution of the Mufti office, which is managed by the Minority with its own resources, will be completely abolished, and the mufti offices will be turned into state offices under the control and direction of the state in terms of their organisational structure and functioning. It is not possible for this draft law to be accepted by our community, and any regulation prepared without considering our religious autonomy will be null and void for us”.
On 22 July 2022, a new legal regulation on the functioning of the mufti offices belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace in Greece was presented at the Parliament. In the new draft law presented to the Parliament within the scope of the Omnibus bill and with the definition of the Muslim minority in Thrace, the organisation and activities of the mufti offices are included under the heading of ‘‘Modernisation of the Mufti Offices in Thrace’’, while provisions with respect to the status of the mufti offices and their functioning are included within the framework of the heading of the position and situation of the mufti offices and the competencies of the mufti offices.
The draft law revises the provisions on the functioning of the mufti offices with Presidential Decree No. 52/2019, which the Turkish community in Western Thrace had applied to the Council of State with the request for its annulment, but which ultimately the Council of State had rejected, but also further introduces new provisions that will completely eliminate religious autonomy in violation of the provisions of the 1913 Treaty of Athens and the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which define the autonomy of the Turkish community in Western Thrace in the field of religion.
In the part regarding the mufti offices, it is stated that the mufti offices are public institutions subjected to the decentralisation system and at the level of general directorates, and it is further indicated that the mufti offices are directly subordinated to the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs, and that the purpose of the mufti offices is to deal with the religious affairs of the Minority and to exercise their judicial powers within the scope stipulated by the law. In this respect, the draft law, which repeats the organisational chart introduced by the Presidential Decree, once again envisages a structure under the control of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs with the claim that the mufti offices will be given an organised and modern structure by disregarding the religious autonomy of the Turkish community in Western Thrace. Full control and audit of the state over the mufti offices is envisaged because both contracted and state employees who will work in the administrative units of the mufti offices are not obliged to be Muslims and from the Minority, and that artificial transitions of state officials from other units to the mufti offices can be provided. In addition, as it is the case in the Presidential Decree, Greek will have to be used as a compulsory and official correspondence language in the mufti offices which will have been converted into public institutions.
Moreover, provisions are introduced regarding the qualifications sought for the designation of the muftis and their duties and responsibilities regarding the position and status of the mufti offices. Under the new provisions as regards the conditions of being a Mufti Regent and the structure and functioning of the Board to be formed under the chairmanship of the Mufti Regent and the provisions on the process of selecting the muftis, it is endeavoured to transform the process of designating the mufti into a mixed system of selection and appointment.
In the draft law, the status of the Mufti is defined as that of a clergyman which heads a public service and that has judicial powers. The draft law, which indicates that the co-existence of three qualities in the same person imposes a separate responsibility on the state for the selection of them and the regulation of the way they operate, does not entail a regulation as regards the election of the Mufti by the community. Instead, it is envisaged through the decision of the Mufti Regent to form a committee consisting of 33 members of the Minority and that those 33 people be chosen by casting a lot among those who teach Islamic studies or in madrasahs, imams, and through Law No. 4115/2013, that is those that have been assigned through the 240 Imams Law as well as leading theologians.
The draft law stipulates that the board will decide whether the mufti candidates are suitable or not, designate the names of those who have the qualifications to serve as Mufti in alphabetical order and forward them to the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs, and the Minister of Education will choose one of the candidates and appoint him by virtue of the Presidential Decree.
Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) made the following statement: ‘‘Following the death of our Mufti of Xanthi Ahmet Mete, the new draft law submitted to the Parliament by the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs alleging to the modernisation of the mufti offices was prepared once again by ignoring the fact that the Turkish community in Western Thrace is autonomous in the religious field. As stated in the general preamble of the draft law, it is noted that the 1913 Treaty of Athens is no longer valid and that this was confirmed by the decision of the Council of State, and that the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and the Treaty of Athens were implicitly cancelled. This draft law is in total contradiction to the Treaty of Athens! As we had expressed it through our objection to the 2019 Presidential Decree, this draft law is totally wiping out the religious autonomy of our mufti offices. The new law takes state control of the mufti offices a step further and paves the way for Greek civil servants to work in the administrative staff of the mufti offices. The most important innovation introduced by the draft law is that the muftis will no longer be appointed directly by the state, but that rather following the application of candidates and the formation of a Board in which the candidates are to be presented, one of the candidates would be appointed by the state. Although this method is somewhat similar in form to the way the Patriarch in Türkiye is appointed, it is completely different in essence. Indeed, although the candidates in Türkiye are the candidates elected by the Orthodox Greek Minority and over which the state has no control in any way, I would like to emphasise a situation in which all the members of the Board that will choose the Mufti candidates will consist of names close to the state and assigned by the state. With this draft law, the institution of the Mufti office, which is managed by the Minority with its own resources, will be completely abolished, and the mufti offices will be turned into state offices under the control and direction of the state in terms of their organisational structure and functioning. It is not possible for this draft law to be accepted by our community, and any regulation prepared without considering our religious autonomy will be null and void for us”.
