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On the one hand, the Turkish community in Western Thrace, whose rights are constantly being seized, and on the other hand, the Greek Orthodox minority, which freely enjoys religious freedom

20.01.2022

ABTTF President: “Considering our country’s continued violation and seizure of the rights and freedoms of the Turkish community in Western Thrace, we demand our motherland to freeze its tolerant practices towards the Greek Orthodox minority, which we hope our country will follow as an example in accordance with the principle of reciprocity defined by the Treaty of Lausanne.”

Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I led the service at the Old Hagios Basileios Church in the former Greek village of Tirilye District in Mudanya, Bursa, Turkey, which was restored as a cultural centre by the Municipality of Mudanya.

According to the report from the Millet newspaper, Bartholomew I visited the Kemerli Church, which is very important to the Greek Orthodox community after the service and then left Mudanya after praying there.

“As a result of our motherland’s policy of tolerance for the minorities, religious worship is carried out in restored historical churches even in places where there is no Greek Orthodox community, while many historical mosques left by the Ottoman Empire in Greece are abandoned to their fate. The country’s second-largest city, Thessaloniki, has thousands of Muslims, but there is no mosque open for worship. The congregation is forced to perform Eid prayers outside on the sidewalk because the Greek authorities do not even allow Eid prayers in historic mosques in Thessaloniki. The so-called new mosque, which opened in the capital city Athens, where the Muslim community lives by the hundreds of thousands, does not even have a minaret, does not meet the need due to its inadequate capacity.  In Western Thrace, where the Turkish community lives, repair permits are blocked in historical mosques and various problems are raised about the construction of new ones. All these examples represent a situation unbecoming of our country, which claims to be the ‘cradle of democracy’ at every occasion. Considering our country’s continued violation and seizure of the rights and freedoms of the Turkish community in Western Thrace, we demand our motherland to freeze its tolerant practices towards the Greek Orthodox minority, which we hope our country will follow as an example in accordance with the principle of reciprocity defined by the Treaty of Lausanne”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).