In Greece there is an ethnic Turkish minority,1 whose religiousaffiliation is Islam. The Turks are the most numerous (about 130,000)among the minorities in Greece although they are not the only one.^ Theethnic Turks are concentrated in a small (8578 sq. km.) Balkan territory called'Western Thrace', which is bordered on the east by Turkey, on the west by theGreek part of Macedonia, on the north by Bulgaria and on the south by theAegean Sea. The area stretches from the Maritza (Meric) river in the east asfar as the Mesta (Karasu) river in the west. The region includes the Rhodopemountains in the north. The Maritza river divides modern Thrace into the'Eastern' (or Turkish) and the 'Western' (or Greek) portions. A part of Thraceis, then, within the borders of European Turkey.*The terms 'ethnic Turkish minority', Turkish community' and 'Muslim Turks'will be used in this text to designate the Turks of Western Thrace in Greece.An overwhelming majority of the Turks are Islamic while not all but againthe majority of the Muslims there are Turks. The rest of the Muslims arePomaks and Roma (Gypsies) with a small number of Circassians (Cherkez),just as there are also a small group of Christian Turks (Gagauz), whocongregate mainly in the northern parts of the Balkans.'-Apart from the Muslim and Christian Turks, Greece has (Slav) Macedonians,(Muslim) Pomaks, (Muslim) Circassians, (Muslim) Albanians (of Camuria),(Christian) Albanians, (Christian and Latin-speaking) Vlahs (Koutsvlahs orAromani), Jews, Armenians and others. Tilrkkaya Ataov, "The EthnicMinorities of Greece," A.O. Siyasal Bilgiler Fakultesi Dergisl,46/3-4 (1991), 15-33.90 THE TURKISH YEARBOOK [VOL. XXHThe Turks have been living in both sides of Thrace since the mid-14thcentury. They constitute the whole of the population in the eastern part, andused to make the majority in the west as well until the 1920s. The OttomanEmpire abandoned Western Thrace to Bulgaria, in accordance with the 1913Treaty of Istanbul, Greece annexed it in 1920 under the Treaty of Sevres. TheTreaty of Lausanne (24 July 1923), which opened up a new era in Turkishhistory, ceded the region to the Greeks. Under a protocol of the same year,Greece and Turkey decided on a compulsory exchange of Greek and Muslimminorities in each other's country with two exceptions.^ The exceptions werethe Greeks of Istanbul, who formed a minority there and the Muslims ofWestern Thrace, who composed the majority then. The Turkish communityoutnumbered the Greek four to one. It had been on this basis that the firstTurkish republic' in history, in the form of a 'Western Thracian ProvisionalGovernment' was formed in 1913.4 The Turks not only outnumbered theGreeks, but also owned most (close to 84 percent) of the land. Had there beenno steady outflow, since 1923, of the Turkish population, the number wouldhave reached perhaps half a million today. For the last eight decades, a fewhundred-thousand Turks, who have a high rate of population growth, leftWestern Thrace, mostly going to Turkey. It is on account of constantmigration that their number has stayed the same and that they have lostproperty, now owning a third of the land.^Western Thrace presently contains three administrative provinces:Xanthi with capital Xanthi (tskece); Rhodope with capital Komotini(Giimulcine); and Evros with capital Alexandroup (Dedeagac.). The Turksliving there, now reduced to a minority, on account of migrations, strippingsof citizenship and new Greek settlements, do not represent a separatistFor a Greek source on the exchange of populations and other agreementsbetween Greece and Turkey that followed Lausanne, see: DimitriPantzopoulos, The Balkan Exchange of Minorities and ItsImpact Upon Greece, The Hague, 1962. A Turkish source: T.C.,Hariciye Vekaleti, Lozan Konferansi: 1922-1923, Istanbul, 1340-1924.A Turkish source on the establishment of a Turkish republic in WesternThrace: Ahmet Kayihan, Lozan ve Bati Trakya: 1913'de Ilk TurkCumhuriyetl, Istanbul, 1967.Turkish delegation at Lausanne stated that the Turks in Western ThraceWere 129,120 (67 percent) and the Greeks 33,910 (18 percent). The Greeksclaimed that the Turks were slightly above 100,000, but neverthelessconstituting the overwhelming majority. The Turks also insisted that theyowned most of the land while the Greeks, being largely traders, possessedonly five percent. The Greeks contested these figures as well, admitting,however, that most of the land belonged to the Turks. Great Britain, Cmd.1814, Turkey No. 1 (1923). Lausanne Conference on Near EasternAffairs, London.1992] THE ETHNIC TURKISH MINORITY IN WESTERN THRACE, GREECE 91movement but have been asserting for decades that the policy of the GreekGovernment was one of deliberate discrimination with a long-term aim ofassimilation. Over the years, the Turks have complained of denial of ethnicidentity, discrimination and abuse of human rights.6 It is only recently thatnon-Turkish sources have come to recognize the restrictions on the lives ofthe Turks and the degrading treatment accorded to them.7 For decades, theGreek public and the government stood unmoved to the cries of the Turkishminority for justice.8 The government started taking some steps in mid-19916Two Turkish sources: Haluk Baytilken, 'Turkish Minorities in Greece",Turkish Yearbook of International Affairs: 1963, Ankara,Faculty of Political Science, 1965, pp. 145-164; Baskm Oran, Tflrk-Yunan lllskilerinde Bati Trakya Sorunu, Ankara, MUlkiyelilerBirligi Vakfi, 1986.'For a long time it was assumed that Greece, being the 'cradle of Westerncivilization', could not possibly mistreat its own minorities and thatdiscussions of democracy ought to stop at the borders of this country. Forinstance. The Economist of London mentioned several Balkan minoritiesbut failed to report on the Turks, Macedonians and the Albanians of Greece.For my reply, see: The Economist, 22 June 1985, 6. Authoritativeworks came in the 1980s: Hugh Poulton, The Balkans, London, MinorityRights Group, 1991; Helsinki Watch, Destroying Ethnic Identity:the Turks of Greece, New York, 1990; Minority Rights Group,Minorities in the Balkans, London; Fred De Jong, Names,Religious Denomination and Ethnicity of Settlements inWestern Thrace, Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1980; 'The Muslim Minority inWestern Thrace", pp. 95-100, in G. Ashworth, ed.. World Minoritiesin the Eighties, London; Iwao Kamozawa, The Case of Turks InWestern Thrace, Tokyo, Mediterranean Studies Research Group,Hitotsubashi University, 1982; Bjorn Cato Funnemark, The TurkishMinority in Greece, tr. by Ame Bakke, Oslo, the Norwegian HelsinkiCommittee. 1991. Professor Erik Siesby made the following statement atthe Conference in the Folketinget, Denmark (1990): "In Greece the Turkishminority is much too small to present any danger to the society. Thetreatment of this population as second class citizens has harmed, not onlythe ethnic Turks, but even more the reputation of Greece as a civilizedsociety." Minority Rights Group, Minority Rights in Europe,London, 1990.°K.G. Andreades, a Greek writer, formerly an officer of the jendarmerie inWestern Thrace, asserts that Greece "protected and still protects, in the bestway possible, the Muslims living within its boundaries". He ends his bookwith the following conclusion: "It can also be taken for granted that thereneed be no fear for the Moslems of Cyprus when this island comes to beunited again with Greece". K.G. Andreades, The Moslem Minority inWestern Thrace, Thessaloniki, Institute for Balkan Studies. 1956;Amsterdam, Adolf M. Hakkert, 1980, p. 59. Another Greek author tries tolink Turkey's interest in the Turks of Western Thrace to "Turkishirredentism". Paul Hidiroglou, Western Thrace In the Light of theNational Ideal of the Turks, Athens, Herodotos, 1990. On the other92 THE TURKISH YEARBOOK [VOL XXHto improve conditions for the Turks, who nevertheless still face importantproblems.II. Legal Guarantees and Positive Steps:The Greek Government's obligations to guarantee the rights of theTurkish community stems from a number of treaties and agreements.According to Articles 37-45 of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), the Greek andthe Turkish governments are obliged to protect the respective minorities intheir territories. They agreed to provide equality before the law, protection oflife and liberty, free use of any language, free exercise of religion, the right toestablish and control their own institutions and schools, the right to giveinstruction in their own languages, freedom of movement and all other rightsenjoyed by the majority. To be more precise, all these guarantees werementioned (in Articles 37-44) in respect to the Greek minority in Istanbuland the last one (Article 45) shortly but equally bindingly stated that thesame rights were recognized by Greece in relation to its Muslim minority.The safeguards under the Lausanne Treaty were mainly political and cultural,the Greek minority in Turkey being generally well off economically TheTurkish minority in Western Thrace, on the other hand, needed, not onlypolitical and cultural protection, but also economic safeguards. In any case,not even the former was observed to the extent of denying the existence of anethnic Turkish community.Although the Lausanne text employed the term 'Muslim1, what wasmeant, in terms of Greece's relations with Turkey, was the Turks, as manyother successive documents identified them as such. For instance, the Greekand the Turkish governments signed (1968) a protocol guaranteeing that eachcountry would respect the ethnic and religious consciousness of the Greek andTurkish minorities. Greece also signed a number of international documents,including the European Convention for Human Rights, which establishesbroad guarantees for fundamental freedoms. The Helsinki Final Act (1975)specifically requires the signatories to respect the rights of nationalminorities. Further, the documents of the follow-up meetings of theConference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) ensure the rightsof the same.The Greek Constitution also protects the rights of the Turkishminority in Western Thrace. According to the letter of the constitution, allcitizens are equal before the law, withdrawal of Greek citizenship is permittedhand, a five-page report, issued by a group of Greak scientists, representingthe Greek Greens Party and led by Panayotis Dimitros, an academics fromthe Economic Faculty in Athens, recognized that Greece was discriminatingagainst the Turkish community. Reported in the Turkish Daily News,Ankara, 25 July 1990.1992] THE ETHNIC TURKISH MINORITY IN WESTERN THRACE, GREECE 93only in voluntary acquisition of another citizenship or in case of acts contraryto national interests, all persons enjoy full protection of their life, honor andfreedom, measures restrictive of free movement are prohibited, and the pressis free.But in spite of these international and national guarantees, the Turkishminority is suffering from serious human rights abuses. The Greekgovernment has allowed ethnic Turks, since 1991, to buy or sell land andhouses, repair dwellings and mosques, obtain licenses for tractors, trucks andcars, and open shops. None of these was possible until very recently. PrimeMinister Constantine Mitsotakis went to Western Thrace in May 1991 andadmitted that mistakes had been made in the past. Some of these errors havebeen corrected, but other blunders still continue.III. Continuing Problems:The core of the conflict is that the Greek Government denies even theexistence of an ethnic Turkish minority and moreover subjects it to adegrading treatment in a number of ways. Although the Turks living there arethe sons and daughters of Turkish-speaking people who settled centuries ago,the Greeks refer to them as 'Hellenic Muslims', which is an inept andmisleading description. A great majority of them are Muslims in terms ofreligion, which was a criterion for identification, in accordance with Islamiclaw and practice. The Turks, however, also have a national or ethnic identity,just like the other Muslims in Greece, such as the Pomaks or even the non-Muslims like the Vlahs.There were brief times when the Turkish identity was recognized. Twoorders, dated 1954 and 1955 and signed by the (Greek) Chief Administrator ofThrace, pursuant to the instructions of the Prime Minister, asked allconcerned to use the terms of 'Turk' or Turkish', instead of 'Muslim'.9 Forsome time, protocols for educational programs referred to Turkish schools',old photographs showed inscriptions on the buildings as Turkish elementaryschool', diplomas identified the holder as 'Turk', and some textbooks weredescribed as 'Turkish books'.The change occurred later, especially after the communique of thepresident of the Greek Parliament, dated 10 October 1985, in which he statedthat the term 'Greek Muslims' must henceforth be used. The Greek courtseffectively outlawed the use of the word 'Turkish'. Officials conformed to theorder first by removing all signs which carried that word. It culminated withthe arrest and imprisonment of two Turkish candidates (Dr. Sadik Ahmet andIsmail S.erif), who ran in elections (of June and November 1989) for theGreek Parliament and who by name referred to the Turkish minority. They9Andreades, op. cit., 14-15.94 THE TURKISH YEARBOOK [VOL XXIIwere charged with violating the Penal Code (Article 192) by 'openly andindirectly inciting citizens to violence or creating rifts among the populationat the expense of social peace1 simply by the use of the word Turkish1. Theirtrial, filmed by the Dutch TV, was a political demonstration, after whichmobs of Greeks attacked Turkish shops and offices and beat ethnic Turks.Several foreigners and Greeks concurred that not a single Christian-ownedpremises was attacked, and that there was little or no police intervention.10It is still illegal in Greece for a Turkish association to be calledTurkish'. Youth and professional organizations, the few that used to exist,were all closed down by the order of the courts for having that name in theirtitles.The freedom of expression of the Turks are also violated. The Turkishminority brings out single-sheet newspapers (like Dr. Ahmet's Balkan) inTurkish, but similar publications printed in Turkey are not allowed entry intoWestern Thrace, and propriators or writers are too often punished either byimprisonment or heavy fines for articles critical of the Greek Government.Turkish TV and at times Turkish radio broadcasts are jammed. Even in 1992a press conference by the Greek section of the London-based Minority RightsGroup was banned at government instigation.11The three chief problem areas in education, which is of great concernto the Turkish community, are textbooks, teachers and lack of place insecondary schools for Turkish children. Generations of young Turks havebeen using the same obsolete educational material, with pages torn ormissing. The 1968 protocol allows Turkey to send schoolbooks, which areheld up by the Greek officials. The Turkish minority objected to the use of aTurkish language book, prepared by the Greek GovernmentThe Turkish teachers often have difficulty in obtaining permits fromthe Greek Embassy in Ankara. The Greek teachers offer courses in ancientGreek, Greek language, history, sociology and related subjects, and thechildren consequently follow only half of the program, teachers from Turkeynot being available. Local Turks, with degrees in teaching from Turkey aregenerally not allowed to fill the vacancies although their salaries are met bythe Turkish community. The non-Turkish teachers, trained in a specialschool in Thessaloniki, are either selected among the Pomaks of from peoplewho are either unqualified or know little Turkish.There are not enough places in the Turkish high schools for all whowish to pursue further education. The Turkish community cannot get the10Athens News, 4 and 10-11 February 1990.nThe Financial Times, 2 February 1992.1992] THE ETHNIC TURKISH MINORITY IN WESTERN THRACE, GREECE 95permission to build new schools or use the existing empty space. Accordingto a protocol (1952), reflected in Greek law no. 2203, the director of the(Turkish) Celal Bayar High School has to be Turkish. The present one isGreek. Since an entrance examination in Greek determines who will beenrolled in the two Turkish secondary schools, many youngsters prefer to goTurkey to pursue education. There is a suspicion that the Greek Governmentwants the young Turks to go to Turkey because most of them may not comeback and eventually draw their families as well. In any case, their diplomasare not officially recognized when they return to Greece. Or they might loosetheir citizenship altogether.The notorious Article 19 of the Greek Nationality Law (1955) statesthat "a person of non-Greek ethnic origin leaving Greece without theintention of returning may be declared as having lost Greek nationality..."This article, amply applied in the past in the case of the Turks and still inuse, violates the Greek Constitution (Article 4) and the ConcludingDocument of the Vienna Follow-up Meeting to the CSCE (1989). ThoseTurks who go abroad to study or their parents who leave the Greek soil tovisit their sons and daughters where they receive their education find out,while trying to return, that they have lost their citizenship. Police merelyasks the opinion of the neighbors if the Turks in question intend to return ornot. If one of the replies is 'no', then, a note to the Ministry of Interior leadsto the cancellation of his citizenship, without even notifying the person.There are even cases of those who lost their citizenship while away doingmilitary service. There is no judicial review, and appeals are expensive andtime-consuming.The Greek Government restricts the freedom of movement of theTurks by seizing their passports. Such confiscation, without a hearing and aright of judicial review, violates the Greek Constitution and the internationalagreements which Greece has signed. The freedom of movement of the Turksis further hindered on the basis of the so-called 'restricted military areas', i.e.,land bordering on Bulgaria, where the inhabitants may move only as far as 30kilometers from their dwellings and where the whole area is closed anywaybetween midnight and 5:00 a.m.The Turks generally face a degrading treatment. The Greek policefrequently harasses them and outside observers who try to help them.Lawyers who represent the Turkish minority are often called in forinterrogation, their passports are confiscated, their homes are watched andforeigners who investigate this situation also become targets, involvingbeatings by the police and the mob. Such harassment has lessened, but stillexists.Ethnic Turks are discriminated against in employment and in theprovision of services. They come up to special difficulties especially in civil% THE TURKISH YEARBOOK [VOL. XXIIservice appointments, very few and low level of which go to the Turks. Theyare deprived of certain public services, such as obtaining private telephones,which are readily available to the Greeks.The government awards free land to some Greek Christians. The landsof the Turks, on the other hand, are frequently confiscated. Although land isso important in this farming area, it has been seized a number of times,allegedly to build the University of Thrace or an open-air prison, but only asmall portion has been used as school buildings. The Turks loose morefertile land at a significantly faster rate. This comparison is more distressingfor the Turks since they are dependent on agriculture. In some instances, asevident in the Inhanh (Evlalon) case in the Xanthi district, the Greek courtsfrequently rule that the Turkish farmers are 'unlawful interferents' and the landin question is not returned to their owners in spite of the over-ruling decisionof a higher court. ^Although all Greek citizens have the right to vote in elections, justicehas not been done to the Turks in this respect as well. In several recentparliamentary elections the Turkish-Greek border was closed to bar thoseTurks returning to Greece from casting their vote; bus service to WesternThrace was cancelled, and air connection blocked; Greek soldiers were broughtin from other parts of the country to outweigh the ethnic Turks; the numberof ballot boxes diminished from one election to another, ethnic Turks werenot allowed to vote until late in the afternoon; polling stations in Turkishareas were closed early; vote totals were not announced in some areas; novotes at all for Turkish candidates were listed in such a Turkish stronghold asthe village of Sofular, and the applications of the Turkish candidates wererejected in the wake of the elections.The Turks are also no longer able to elect their own muftis, orreligious leaders. The Treaty of Lausanne provides for the free exercise ofreligion, including the selection of muftis. The Greek Law No. 2345 (1920)also states that the denominational heads must be elected by the respectivecommunities. And the CSCE documents recognize religious freedom for theminorities. There are three muftis in Eastern Thrace, one for each administrativedistrict. Following the death of the Komotini mufti (1985), theGreek authorities appointed a new one without consulting its Muslimcitizens. A new law (No. 1920, 1990) further announced that the muftiswould henceforth be appointed by the government for ten years. The Turkishminority, nevertheless, elected its own muftis, creating in each communitypairs, one appointed and the other democratically elected. The former is paid12Baskin Oran, "The Inhanh Land Dispute and the Status of the Turks inWestern Thrace", Journal, London, Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs,9/2 (1984), 360-370.1992] THE ETHNIC TURKISH MINORITY IN WESTERN THRACE, GREECE 97by the government, and the latter supported financially by the community.When the Muslim Turkish community held a demonstration (1991) inXanthi to protest the new law, the Greeks attacked Turkish dwellings andshops, the police doing virtually nothing to stop them.The Turks are not allowed to control their own charitable foundations(waqfs). The Treaty of Lausanne and the CSCE documents provide thatminorities shall have the right to establish, maintain and control theireducational, cultural and religious institutions. Although the directors of thewaqfs were elected by the community before the military junta (1967), Greeklaw No. 1091 (1980) brought the practice of a board of five administrators,selected by the Greek nomarch. The latter are the real administrators althoughthe appointed muftis seem to be technically involved.Being religious endowments supported by the local people, the waqfsare also expected to be in charge of Muslim Turkish architectural heritage inGreece.1-* The heritage in question is the immovable cultural works of acivilization that played an important role in an area on which there are now24 nation-states. It is, in fact, a mutual heritage fostered by local variations.For the Turks, it is a part of their cultural identity. Bu in Greece, theOttoman Empire is generally considered as non-existent. The terms "post-Byzantine" or "pre-modern" are used instead, when referring to the OttomanEmpire. The touristic publications mention Ottoman invasions only.Ignoring the facts of recent history has eased the destruction of the culturalheritage belonging to the Ottoman period. This heritage has been destroyeddeliberately in various periods. There are still a number of examples whichhave survived but only left exposed to the devastation of nature.IV. Conclusion:When an independent Greek state was established in 1830, a Greeknation still had to emerge. The 18th century Ottomans considered the Greeksas part of the Orthodox millet (or religious group), and the Greeks describedthemselves not as "Hellenes", but as "Romaioi", the Byzantine identification,the Turkish version of which was "Rum". The Greeks were widely but thinlydistributed within the Ottoman Empire from the Adriatic to the Black Sea13Tilrk KulturUne Hizmet Vakfi, The Problem of Protection of theOttoman Turkish Architectural Heritage in Greece, Istanbul,1992. M. Kiel, "Notes on the History of Some Turkish Monuments inThessaloniki and Their Founders," Balkan Studies, 2, (1970), 126-156;M. Kiel, "Observation on the History of Northern Greece during the TurkishRule," Balkan Studies, 12 (1971), 415-462; Filiz Yenisehirlioglu,Ottoman Architectural Works Outside Turkey, Ankara, Dis.is.leriBakanhgi, 1989.98 THE TURKISH YEARBOOK [VOL. XXIIcoasts, and there were Greek merchant communities in many WesternEuropean cities.Reminding the dichotomy between the Slavophiles and Westernisersin Tsarist Russia, the Orthodox church resented the mixture of classics andrationalism, introduced by Adamantios Korais, but nevertheless accepted thenew concept of "Ellinismus", which reflected the whole Greek community inthe world and Greek civilization. Irrespective of the divisions between thetraditionalists and the westernizers and also between those who upheld a "pureGreek" language and who widely spoke the "demotic" variant, the Greeksseemed to agree on including within the Greek state all Greeks and landsconsidered by them to be Greek. This was the "Great Idea" (Megali Idea) thatmotivated many Greek intellectuals. The history of modern Greece isdominated by a process in which the Greek state expanded territorially whileEllinismos, as people and civilization, retreated.From the point of view of the Greeks, the Turks "stood on the way".The latter were either killed or forced to flee. This was also the tragic fate ofthe Balkan, Crimean and the Caucasian Muslims in general. Before the Greekrevolt (1821), a vast Muslim land existed from Bosnia to the eastern fringesof the Caucasus (and beyond), incorporating the Crimea and its hinterland inbetween. The Muslims were, not only the rulers there, but also constitutedeither the majority, plurality or sizable minorities. Millions were killed, andmore millions were made refugees. The new states were established on thesufferings of the departed Muslims, mostly Turks, who had lived on thoselands for five centuries or more. The Greek revolt, which had started with themurder of Ottoman officials, continued with ethnic cleansing because theTurks of Greece were on the way of a purely Greek state. Small pockets ofMuslims and Turks remained, nevertheless, in various parts of the Balkans,such as in Western Thrace.Greece, still judging contemporary Turkey by the memories of thelatter's Ottoman past, continues to ponder over real or mythologized losses.Greek failure to abandon the myth of ethnic homogeneity within its presentdayfrontiers is part of its new identity. Therefore, in Greek eyes, the Turksof Western Thrace are only a "Muslim minority", and Macedonians are nomore that "Slavophone Greeks".The Greek Government has taken some steps in 1991 to improveconditions in some areas for the Turkish minority. But important problemsremain. Associations and schools cannot call themselves 'Turkish1. Turkishlanguagepapers and books cannot be brought from Turkey into WesternThrace. Turkish TV is still jammed. Hundreds of Turks are deprived of theirGreek citizenship. Police still harasses ethnic Turks. They are discriminatedagainst in employment and in services. Their lands are confiscated. They facedifficulties in education, in elections and in the selection of their own1992] THE ETHNIC TURKISH MINORITY IN WESTERN THRACE, GREECE 99religious leaders. They cannot control their own charitable foundations. TheGreek Government should abide by its obligations under international andnational law to protect the Turkish minority's human rights.There have been many individual complaints, demonstrations andappeals by Turks of Western Thrace to outside bodies such as the UnitedNations and the Council of Europe. While the official Greek attitude seemsto be a deliberate policy of discrimination and assimilation, the situation hasthe potential of becoming more serious with the polarization of thecommunities in the whole of Western Thrace. Justice may be served andtension lowered when the Greek government abides by its obligations.
