ABTTF President: ‘With this parallel report, our goal is to have a dialogue with the rulers of our country and have a say in matters that directly concern our problems’.
As a response to the report published on 19 December 2019 by the Greek Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs titled ‘Incidents in areas of religious importance in Greece – 2018’ which include parts with respect to the Turkish community in Western Thrace, the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) prepared a parallel report which it sent to Greek Minister of Education and Religious Affairs Niki Kerameus and Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou.
In its report, ABTTF detailed the issues of religious freedom of the Turkish community in Western Thrace and expressed the views and demands of the Turkish community in Western Thrace.
Furthermore, while ABTTF welcomed the fact that the report mentioned the attacks that the Turkish community in Western Thrace has experienced in its religious areas, it criticised in its own report that it only reflects the government’s official view with respect to the status of the minority regarding religious affairs, the right of choosing muftis who are their religious leaders, the functioning of the muftis along with measures aimed at restructuring mufti offices.
ABTTF noted that while issues pertaining to the religious freedoms of the other religious groups are not mentioned within the report, the fact that religious issues as regards the Turkish community in Western Thrace are widely included in the report is a further indication of intervention to the religious autonomy of the Turkish community in Western Thrace.
As a response to indications within the report that muftis are senior civil servants that are directors from a bureaucratic perspective and that they enjoy religious, administrative and legal powers according to Islamic law for a duration of 10 years, ABTTF reminded that the Turkish community in Western Thrace has been guaranteed autonomy in its religious sphere according to the 1913 Treaty of Athens and that with respect to it and to Law No. 2345/1920, the right of the Turkish community in Western Thrace to choose its muftis had been transposed in internal law and that this system had continued until 1985. Indicating that the right of Western Thrace Turks to choose their own muftis had been violated in 1990, ABTTF explained that muftis who had been chosen by the community who appealed to this situation faced legal action on grounds of occupying the office of mufti.
Indicating the legal action which has been faced by muftis in the last years, ABTTF criticised the prison sentences which have been given to Rhodope Elected Mufti İbrahim Şerif and Xanthi Elected Mufti Ahmet Mete.
Moreover, ABTTF also explained that Presidential Decree No. 52/2019 which aims at restructuring the office of the three muftis in Western Thrace constituted a direct intervention in the structure of religious autonomy of the Turkish community in Western Thrace.
In parallel to the fact that the reparation, construction and protection within the framework of cultural heritage of mosques in Western Thrace along with the issue of historical mosques present outside Western Thrace in Rhodes and Kos are referred to under different headings, ABTTF reminded that with the Treaty of Lausanne, the Turkish community in Western Thrace enjoys the right to manage and control any type of charitable institution, school and other similar institutions under the condition that it covers their own expenses and it further underlined that the mosques do not belong to the state but are the sacred places of the Turkish community in Western Thrace. At this point, ABTTF, which conveyed the problems of foundations in detail, criticized the arbitrary appointments by the state to the vakfs belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace in violation of the agreements.
Regarding the restoration of mosques of historical importance, ABTTF indicated that the restoration of Çelebi Sultan Mehmet Mosque in Didymoteicho (Dimetoka), which was severely damaged as a result of a fire on 22 March 2017 has not yet been started. In addition to the attacks on the mosque wall in Iasmos (Yassıköy) along with the old building belonging to the mosque in the village of Echinos under the heading of attack on religious areas, ABTTF also reported hate-based verbal attacks against the Turkish community in Western Thrace in 2018.
With respect to the information given regarding Rhodes and Kos under the heading of Muslims outside of Western Thrace, ABTFF indicated informed regarding the Turkish communities living in Rhodes and Kos and further explained with respect to the issues regarding the vakfs in the islands. Noting that there was no authorisation for the restoration and reparation of crafts which constitute the cultural heritage of Rhodes and Kos, ABTTF explained the issues regarding the restoration of Defterdar İbrahim Efendi Mosque and Gazi Hasan Pasha Mosque which were damaged as a result of the 2017 earthquake in Kos.
‘For the first time, ABTTF has prepared a parallel report regarding the report of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs on attacks on religious areas in Greece and expressed the views and demands of our community on issues related to the religious freedoms of the Turkish community in Western Thrace. We wanted to communicate this parallel report to the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs and the President of Greece to establish direct dialogue with the government authorities and to express our views on issues that directly concern our lives. Our goal is to engage in a dialogue with those who govern our country and have a say in matters that directly concern our issues. I hope that this well-intentioned step we have taken in this direction will be addressed by the relevant authorities’, said ABTTF President Halit Habip Oğlu.
