Halit Habip Oğlu: “The report, which has given even less room to the problems of the Western Thrace Turks than in previous years, addresses the problems with a superficial approach. As ABTTF, as every year, we will prepare a report on the problems experienced by Western Thrace Turks in the field of human and minority rights and communicate it to the relevant authorities.”
The Department of State of the United States of America (U.S.A.) has released its 2019 report on the state of human rights in nearly 200 countries worldwide. This year's report regarding Greece shows that the refugee issue is the focus of the report including the use of police force, border security and maintenance of public order. Unlike previous years, the summary part of the report does not refer to the Turkish community in Western Thrace with minority rights or more broadly speaking the phrase "Muslim minority in Thrace” as the term officially used by the Greek government. Nonetheless, in the section titled national, racial, and ethnic minorities, the issues pertaining to Western Thrace Turks are included in the report.
The Turkish community in Western Thrace in the report
Although the constitution and laws prohibit discrimination against minorities in the country, the report, which has been referring in the past years as the "Muslim minority in Thrace", without mentioning Western Thrace Turks, unlike other Roma and other minority groups which the report claims face discrimination. Furthermore, the report indicates that although the government recognises the right of individuals to define themselves, it underscores that many face challenges when defining oneself as part of a minority group and to freely express its identity and culture in that respect. It notes also that courts do not register associations which include the word ‘Turk’ or ‘Turkish’ in its name.
Unlike previous years, the report does not mention any specific number regarding the population of the Turkish community in Western Thrace. Moreover, the official government policy is upheld in the report as it refers to the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne of the Greek government which recognises Turkish, Pomak and Roma communities in Thrace within the framework of a Muslim minority.
Regarding the problems experienced by the Turkish community in education, the report state that there were 128 primary schools and two religious’ schools in Turkish and Greek in the 2018-2019 school year and that some minority members have criticised the government's request for the opening of additional private secondary schools, saying the infrastructure does not respond to the needs.
At the same time, minority representatives noted the decrease in primary school numbers, the report indicates that the government temporarily suspended operation of schools with fewer than 5 students according to the law due to the decreasing number of students. According to the report, 20 schools in the Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Region suspended operation in the 2019-2020 school year, and 5 of those 20 schools were Minority primary schools. However, there are no mentions of the other problems of the Turkish community in Western Thrace, such as autonomy in the field of education, especially in the lack of bilingual Turkish kindergartens.
Under the heading on freedom of association, the report notes that whilst the constitution and the law recognises the freedom of association, as an indication of the collective ethnic identity of the government, there remains legal restrictions regarding associations which refer to themselves as Macedonians or in which the word Turkish is included. However, the report also indicates that despite this situation, these associations continue to operate although they are not legally recognized. On the other hand, the report does not mention the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgments regarding three Turkish associations that were closed or not allowed to be established because the Turkish word was mentioned in their names, and that Greece has not implemented these judgments since 2008.
“The 2019 Human Rights Report on Greece issued by the US State Department is quite different from last year. The vast majority of the report is devoted to the refugee and refugee problem. On the other hand, the problems of Western Thrace Turks are even less noted than previous years and with respect to issues pertaining to religion, the report only refers to the US Religious Freedom Report and does not mention at all those problems. Referring only to the consultations with representatives of the Turkish community in Western Thrace in the field of education, we see that the report included the closure of primary schools and the criticism from Western Thrace Turks about the lack of secondary schools. As ABTTF, as in previous years, we will prepare a parallel report and convey the opinion of the Turkish community in Western Thrace to the relevant authorities regarding all the topics mentioned in the report” said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
Please click the following link for the Greece 2019 Human Rights Report:
https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/GREECE-2019-HUMAN-RIGHTS-REPORT.pdf
