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Greek diplomatic sources misread Lausanne, draw a wrong parallel!

16.06.2022

ABTTF President: “According to Lausanne, the Muslim minority in our country and the non-Muslim minority in Turkey enjoy autonomous status in education and religion! The way muftis are chosen or appointed in Turkey cannot be rightfully compared with the Turkish community in Western Thrace. If we take Lausanne as a basis, both the patriarch and the rabbi in Turkey are chosen by their respective communities. However, in our country, our muftis are appointed by the state!’’

In its June 14, 2022 issue, the daily newspaper Ekathimerini reported that Greece’s Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA), citing Greek diplomatic sources, referred to the appointments of muftis in Turkey by presidential decree on 7 June 2022, claiming that it was hypocritical of Turkey to criticise the state appointment of muftis in Western Thrace.

In the report, which indicated that Turkey appointed the muftis in its own country not by election but by the state according to the Presidential Decree, it was stated that Turkey appointed the muftis in the same way as Greece by establishing a parallel between Turkey and Greece, but in return demands were issued insofar as for Greece to elect the muftis in Western Thrace.

‘‘According to the news report, which was published based on Greek diplomatic sources, it is inconceivable that the appointment of the muftis which are the religious leaders of the Turkish community in Western Thrace, by the state, not through elections, should be compared with the appointment of muftis in Turkey. As we have often seen recently, our country interprets Lausanne in the way it wants! According to Lausanne, the Muslim minority in our country and the non-Muslim minority in Turkey enjoy autonomous status in education and religion! The way muftis are chosen or appointed in Turkey cannot be rightfully compared with the Turkish community in Western Thrace. If we take Lausanne as a basis, both the patriarch and the rabbi in Turkey are chosen by their respective communities. However, in our country, our muftis are appointed by the state! If we are to compare it with other religious communities in our country, even in the case of the Orthodox Church, which is the prevailing religion of the state, the state cannot appoint clergy members. In our country, both Armenians and Jews elect their own religious leaders. But when it comes to us, our country interprets Lausanne as it wishes, and as if that is not enough, it compares the method of choosing the muftis in Turkey and other Muslim countries with the case of the Turkish community in Western Thrace. With the amendments made in recent years, our country continues to act in contradiction to the treaties and deliberately reduces the powers of the muftis, it seems that it will continue to do so until our religious autonomous status is completely eliminated’’, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF). 

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