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== Culture ==
== Culture ==
[[Image:Greece linguistic minorities.svg|thumb|right|250px|Regions where the Turkish language is spoken]]
[[Image:Greece linguistic minorities.svg|thumb|right|250px|Regions where the Turkish language is spoken in Greece]]


=== Language ===
=== Language ===
Line 91: Line 91:
=== Religious freedom ===
=== Religious freedom ===
According to the Lausanne Treaty, the Turkish minority is entitled to [[freedom of religion]] and to the right to control charitable and religious institutions. However, the Turkish community believes that these international law guarantees have been violated by the Greek government<ref>{{Harvnb|Whitman|1990|loc=26}}.</ref> by denying permission to repair or rebuild old [[mosques]] or to build new mosques, by denying the right to choose the [[muftis]] (this chief religious officers), and by efforts to control the Turkish communities charitable foundations.<ref>{{Harvnb|Whitman|1990|loc=27}}.</ref>
According to the Lausanne Treaty, the Turkish minority is entitled to [[freedom of religion]] and to the right to control charitable and religious institutions. However, the Turkish community believes that these international law guarantees have been violated by the Greek government<ref>{{Harvnb|Whitman|1990|loc=26}}.</ref> by denying permission to repair or rebuild old [[mosques]] or to build new mosques, by denying the right to choose the [[muftis]] (this chief religious officers), and by efforts to control the Turkish communities charitable foundations.<ref>{{Harvnb|Whitman|1990|loc=27}}.</ref>

=== Internal migration ===

In the 1980s the Greek Government offered clerical jobs in banks and public administrations in [[Athens]] to the Turkish speaking minority allegedly to weaken their presence in Western Thrace. Moreover, those who accepted these jobs were deprived of their minority rights when they moved to Athens which partly explains why there are no mosques or Turkish language schools in Athens.<ref>{{Harvnb|Madianou|2005|loc=36}}.</ref> The majority who primarily come from [[Komotini]] and to a lesser extent from [[Xanthi]] live in the neighbourhood of [[Gazi, Athens|Gazi]] which is close to the centre of Athens. There are different estimates about the number of people from Western Thrace living in the Athens vicinity ([[Attica]]) which vary between 5,000 to 10,000 people.<ref>{{Harvnb|Madianou|2005|loc=36-37}}.</ref>


== Diaspora ==
== Diaspora ==
===Turkey===
⚫
{{See also|Turks in Germany}}
Between 300,000 to 400,000 Turks have left Western Thrace since 1923; most of which immigrated to [[Turkey]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Whitman|1990|loc=2}}.</ref>


===Germany===
⚫
{{See also|Turks in Germany}}
There are some members of the ''[[Greek Muslims|Greek Muslim]]'' community among the some 350,000 [[Greeks in Germany|Greeks living in Germany]] who are Turks or who espouse a Turkish identity.<ref>{{Harvnb|Westerlund|Svanberg|1999|loc=320-321}}.</ref> The majority of Turks immigrated from [[Western Thrace]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly|2007|loc=118}}.</ref> In the 1960s and 1970s, the Thracian tobacco industry was affected by a sever crisis and many tobacco growers lost their income. This resulted in many Turks leaving their homes and immigrating to [[Germany]] with estimates suggesting that today there are now 12,000 residing in Germany.<ref>{{Harvnb|Clogg|2002|loc=84}}.</ref>
There are some members of the ''[[Greek Muslims|Greek Muslim]]'' community among the some 350,000 [[Greeks in Germany|Greeks living in Germany]] who are Turks or who espouse a Turkish identity.<ref>{{Harvnb|Westerlund|Svanberg|1999|loc=320-321}}.</ref> The majority of Turks immigrated from [[Western Thrace]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly|2007|loc=118}}.</ref> In the 1960s and 1970s, the Thracian tobacco industry was affected by a sever crisis and many tobacco growers lost their income. This resulted in many Turks leaving their homes and immigrating to [[Germany]] with estimates suggesting that today there are now 12,000 residing in Germany.<ref>{{Harvnb|Clogg|2002|loc=84}}.</ref>

===United States of America===
{{See also|Turks in the United States}}
A fairly large number of ethnic Turks from [[Western Thrace]] emigrated and settled in the [[United States]] roughly between 1900 and 1914 when American immigration policies were quite liberal. These Turks were listed as ''Bulgarians'' and ''Greeks'' due to their country of origin, even though they were ethnic Turks and identified themselves as such.<ref name="Karpat 2004 loc=615">{{Harvnb|Karpat|2004|loc=615}}.</ref> Moreover, many immigrant families who were ethnically Albanian, Bulgarian, Greek, Macedonian or Serbian included children of Turkish origin whose parents had been ''cleansed'' after [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia was partitioned between Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece]] following the [[First Balkan War|Balkan War of 1912-13]]. These Turkish children had been ''sheltered'', [[baptised]] and [[adopted]], and then used as field laborers. When the adopting families had to emigrate to America, they listed these children as family members, although most of these Turkish children still remembered their ethnic origin.<ref name="Karpat 2004 loc=615"/>


==Notable Turks of Western Thrace==
==Notable Turks of Western Thrace==
Line 126: Line 137:
*{{citation |last=Hirschon|first=Renée|year=2003|title=Crossing the Aegean: An Appraisal of the 1923 Compulsory Population Exchange Between Greece and Turkey|place=|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=1571815627}}.
*{{citation |last=Hirschon|first=Renée|year=2003|title=Crossing the Aegean: An Appraisal of the 1923 Compulsory Population Exchange Between Greece and Turkey|place=|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=1571815627}}.
*{{citation |last=Karpat|first=Kemal|year=2002|title=Studies on Ottoman Social and Political History: Selected Articles and Essays |place=|publisher=BRILL|isbn= 9004121013}}.
*{{citation |last=Karpat|first=Kemal|year=2002|title=Studies on Ottoman Social and Political History: Selected Articles and Essays |place=|publisher=BRILL|isbn= 9004121013}}.
*{{citation |last=Karpat|first=Kemal H.|author-link=|year=2004|title=Studies on Turkish Politics and Society: Selected Articles and Essays:Volume 94 of Social, economic, and political studies of the Middle East|place=|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9004133224}}.
*{{citation |last=Madianou|first=Mirca|year=2005|title=Mediating the nation: news, audiences and the politics of identity
*{{citation |last=Madianou|first=Mirca|year=2005|title=Mediating the nation: news, audiences and the politics of identity
|place=|publisher=Routledge Cavendish|isbn=1844720284}}.
|place=|publisher=Routledge Cavendish|isbn=1844720284}}.

Revision as of 16:36, 21 January 2010

The region of Thrace.

Turks of Western Thrace (Turkish: Batı Trakya Türkleri) are ethnic Turks who live in Western Thrace, which is in the north-eastern part of Greece. According to the 1991 Greek census, there was approximately 50,000 Turks, out of the approximately 98,000 Muslim minority of Greece which is the only officially recognized minority in Greece.[1] However, the Turkish community has traditionally been estimated to number between 120,000 and 130,000 ethnic Turks.[2][3] Recent estimates of the 'Culture and Education Foundation' of the Minority suggest that it numbers 150,000 people.[4] The Greek government refers to the Turkish community as Greek Muslims or Hellenic Muslims, and denies the existence of a Turkish minority in Western Thrace.[5]

History

See also: Ottoman Greece, Republic of Gumuljina, and Population exchange between Greece and Turkey

Turks began to settle in Western Thrace during the twelfth century and the area was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1354,[6][7] remaining in Turkish hands until 1913 when it was taken over by Bulgaria, which had been victorious in the First Balkan War. France occupied the area at the end of the First World War, following the defeat of Bulgaria, and it passed into Greek hands under the Treaty of Sèvres in August 1920.[8]

In 1923, the population of Western Thrace was 191,699, of whom 129,120 (67%) were Turks and 33,910 (18%) were Greeks; the remaining 28,669 were mostly Bulgarians, along with small numbers of Jews and Armenians.[9]

General Distribution of Population in Western Thrace in 1923[10]
Cities Turks Greeks Bulgarians Jews Armenians
Komotini 59,967 8,834 9,997 1,007 360
Alexandroupolis 11,744 4,800 10,227 253 449
Soufli 14,736 11,542 55,490 - -
Xanthi 42,671 8,728 522 220 114
Total 129,120 33,910 26,266 1,480 923


Within the larger definition of the Muslim minority, the Turks of Western Thrace were exempted from the 1922-1923 Exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey and were granted special rights within the framework of Lausanne Treaty, such as education in the Turkish language.

Demographics

See also: Demographics of Greece

The Turkish community has a strong presence in Komotini (Turkish: Gümülcine) and Xanthi (Turkish: İskeçe).

Culture

Regions where the Turkish language is spoken in Greece

Language

See also: Languages of Greece

According to Ethnologue, in 1976 the Turkish language was spoken by 128,000 people in Greece, the majority of which are located in Western Thrace.[11]

Religion

See also: Islam in Greece and Muslim minority of Greece

Politics

In 1990 a new electoral law was introduced in Greece, which set a threshold of at least 3% of the nationwide vote for a party to be represented in the parliament, independent Turkish MPs were thus barred from election at the 1993 elections. The participation of members of the minority in the Hellenic Parliament is since then assured by Turkish candidats from nationwide political parties, but the Party of Friendship, Equality and Peace, which succeeded the Independent Muslim List in 1991, went on competing for elections at the prefectural and municipal levels. In the Parliament elected in 2007, there are 2 ethnically Turkish PASOK MPs, Çetin Mandacı and Ahmet Hacıosman. In the preceding legislature (2004-2007) there was only one Turkish MP, from New Democracy, İlhan Ahmet.

Greek legislative election, 2009

There are presently two Turkish MPs from Western Thrace, both affiliated to the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, Çetin Mandacı (Xanthi) and Ahmet Hacıosman (Rhodope), former president (1999-2007) of the Party of Friendship, Equality and Peace created by former (1989) MP Sadık Ahmet in 1991[12].

At least 14 candidates from the Turkish minority have been nominated, mainly in Rhodope and Xanthi[13].

For New Democracy, former MP (2004-2007) İlhan Ahmet and Ahmet Ahmet are candidates in Rhodope[14], and in Xanthi Aysel Zeybek and Ahmet Budur[15]. Mrs Zeybek is a former victim of Article 19 of the Greek Citizenship Code, which allowed the government to revoke the citizenship of non-ethnic Greeks who left the country[16]. She won her case before the European Court of Human Rights and re-secured her Greek citizenship in 2001.

For PASOK, Çetin Mandacı and Seval Osmanoğlu are among the 5 candidates in Xanthi, Rıdvan Kocamümin and Ahmet Hacıosman among the 5 in Rhodope[17].

For the KKE (which presently has no MP in Xanthi or Rhodope), Faik Faik in Rhodope and Hasan Efendi in Xanthi.

For SYRIZA (which presently has no MP in Xanthi or Rhodope), Hasan Malkoç and Hüseyin Zeybek are candidates in Xanthi[18], and in Rhodope[19] Dr. Mustafa Mustafa (former MP) and Celalettin Yurtçu[20].

According to the Turkish newspaper Zaman,

The ND and PASOK are upping the ante with get-out-the-vote measures aimed at Turks, including providing free bus transportation for 20,000 Greek citizens living in Turkey to Western Thrace so that they can cast their votes. They will also pay 50 euros per head for voters coming to Western Thrace[20]

In an earlier published Zaman article more details were mentioned:

PASOK party gives 50 euros for each voter, the ruling ND party, 40 Euro (...) 20,000 Greek citizens living in Istanbul and Bursa are to be moved by buses at no charge to Western Thrace. For the 2007 election, approximately 10 thousand had been flocked by buses to Western Thrace. (...) This time, electors living in Germany will be transported freely from Cologne to Thessaloniki on October 1, and from Düsseldorf on October 2 to Alexandroupoli. Those going to Komotini and Xanthi will be transported by free buses.[21]

Human rights issues

See also: Human rights in Greece

Citizenship

According to the Greek government, between 1955 and 1998, approximately 60,000 Greek Muslim individuals, predominantly Turkish, were deprived of their citizenship under Article 19. Of these 60,000, approximately 7,182 lost their citizenship between 1981 and 1997.[22]

Denial of ethnic identity

The Greek government denies the existence of a Turkish minority within its borders; government spokesmen say there are no Turks in Western Thrace.[23] They view the Turks as a religious minority, rather than as an ethnic or a national minority.[24][25] Greek courts have also outlawed the use of the word 'Turkish' to describe the Turkish community. In 1988, the Greek High Court affirmed a 1986 decision of the Court of Appeals of Thrace in which the Union of Turkish Associations of Western Thrace was ordered closed. The court held that the use of the word 'Turkish' referred to citizens of Turkey, and could not be used to describe citizens of Greece; the use of the word 'Turkish' to describe Greek Muslims was held to endanger public order.[26] This led to about 10,000 people demonstrating against the decision in Western Thrace. According to members of the Turkish minority, it was the first time ethnic Turks had taken to the streets.[27]

Degrading treatment

The Turkish minority continues to experience degrading treatment in the form of continued harassment by the police.[28]

Freedom of expression

The freedom of expression of the Turkish minority is frequently violated. However, they are allowed to issue newspapers and magazines in the Turkish language; newspapers and magazines published in Turkey are not allowed entry into Western Thrace, nor are Turkish books.[29] In addition, Turkish television and sometimes Turkish radio are jammed.[30]

Ownership of land

In 1922, Turks owned 84% of the land in Western Thrace, but now the minority estimates this figure to be between 20-40%. This stems from various practices of the Greek administration whereby ethnic Greeks are encouraged to purchase Turkish land with soft loans granted by the state.[31][32]

Religious freedom

According to the Lausanne Treaty, the Turkish minority is entitled to freedom of religion and to the right to control charitable and religious institutions. However, the Turkish community believes that these international law guarantees have been violated by the Greek government[33] by denying permission to repair or rebuild old mosques or to build new mosques, by denying the right to choose the muftis (this chief religious officers), and by efforts to control the Turkish communities charitable foundations.[34]

Internal migration

In the 1980s the Greek Government offered clerical jobs in banks and public administrations in Athens to the Turkish speaking minority allegedly to weaken their presence in Western Thrace. Moreover, those who accepted these jobs were deprived of their minority rights when they moved to Athens which partly explains why there are no mosques or Turkish language schools in Athens.[35] The majority who primarily come from Komotini and to a lesser extent from Xanthi live in the neighbourhood of Gazi which is close to the centre of Athens. There are different estimates about the number of people from Western Thrace living in the Athens vicinity (Attica) which vary between 5,000 to 10,000 people.[36]

Diaspora

Turkey

Between 300,000 to 400,000 Turks have left Western Thrace since 1923; most of which immigrated to Turkey.[37]

Germany

See also: Turks in Germany

There are some members of the Greek Muslim community among the some 350,000 Greeks living in Germany who are Turks or who espouse a Turkish identity.[38] The majority of Turks immigrated from Western Thrace.[39] In the 1960s and 1970s, the Thracian tobacco industry was affected by a sever crisis and many tobacco growers lost their income. This resulted in many Turks leaving their homes and immigrating to Germany with estimates suggesting that today there are now 12,000 residing in Germany.[40]

United States of America

See also: Turks in the United States

A fairly large number of ethnic Turks from Western Thrace emigrated and settled in the United States roughly between 1900 and 1914 when American immigration policies were quite liberal. These Turks were listed as Bulgarians and Greeks due to their country of origin, even though they were ethnic Turks and identified themselves as such.[41] Moreover, many immigrant families who were ethnically Albanian, Bulgarian, Greek, Macedonian or Serbian included children of Turkish origin whose parents had been cleansed after Macedonia was partitioned between Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece following the Balkan War of 1912-13. These Turkish children had been sheltered, baptised and adopted, and then used as field laborers. When the adopting families had to emigrate to America, they listed these children as family members, although most of these Turkish children still remembered their ethnic origin.[41]

Notable Turks of Western Thrace

See also

References

  1. ^ Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "The Muslim Minority of Greek Thrace". Retrieved 2010-01-20.
  2. ^ Whitman 1990, i.
  3. ^ Levinson 1998, 41.
  4. ^ Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association 2009, 2.
  5. ^ Whitman 1990, i.
  6. ^ Sugar 1983, 320.
  7. ^ Panayi 1999, 50.
  8. ^ Panayi 1999, 51.
  9. ^ Whitman 1990, 1.
  10. ^ Öksüz 2004, 255.
  11. ^ Ethnologue. "Languages of Greece". Retrieved 2010-01-20.
  12. ^ Βιογραφικά - ΟΣΜΑΝ ΑΧΜΕΤ ΧΑΤΖΗ, ΒΟΥΛΕΥΤΗΣ ΡΟΔΟΠΗΣ, ΣΗΜΑ ΤΟΥ ΠΑΝΕΛΛΗΝΙΟΥ ΣΟΣΙΑΛΙΣΤΙΚΟΥ ΚΙΝΗΜΑΤΟΣ, Βουλή των Ελλήνων, , accessed on September 24, 2009
  13. ^ Chris Loutradis, Turkish candidate stirs debate in Greek polls, Hürriyet Daily News, September 22, 2009, accessed on September 24, 2009
  14. ^ candidates for the Rodopi circonscription, website of New Democracy, accessed on September 24, 2009
  15. ^ candidates for the Xanthi circonscription, website of New Democracy, accessed on September 24, 2009
  16. ^ Harassment of Aysel Zeybek and The Responses, The Balkan Human Rights Web Pages, accessed on September 24, 2009
  17. ^ Template:Tr Hasan Hacı, PASOK, Türk milletvekili adaylarını, Rodop Rüzgârı, September 10, 2009, accessed on September 25, 2009
  18. ^ ΞΑΝΘΗΣ Νομός ΞΑΝΘΗΣ - Υποψήφιοι
  19. ^ ΡΟΔΟΠΗΣ Νομός ΡΟΔΟΠΗΣ - Υποψήφιοι
  20. ^ a b Hasan Haci, Turkish minority vote worth its weight in gold in Greek elections, Today's Zaman, October 3, 2009
  21. ^ Template:Tr Yunanistan'da Türk oyları için bedava uçak ve otobüs seferleri, Cihan News Agency, September 25, 2009
  22. ^ http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/greece/Greec991-06.htm
  23. ^ Whitman 1990, 14.
  24. ^ Whitman 1990, 15.
  25. ^ Madianou 2005, 34.
  26. ^ Whitman 1990, 16.
  27. ^ Whitman 1990, 17.
  28. ^ Whitman 1990, 22.
  29. ^ Karpat 2002, 537.
  30. ^ Whitman 1990, 24.
  31. ^ Hirschon 2003, 106.
  32. ^ Whitman 1990, 2.
  33. ^ Whitman 1990, 26.
  34. ^ Whitman 1990, 27.
  35. ^ Madianou 2005, 36.
  36. ^ Madianou 2005, 36-37.
  37. ^ Whitman 1990, 2.
  38. ^ Westerlund & Svanberg 1999, 320-321.
  39. ^ Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly 2007, 118.
  40. ^ Clogg 2002, 84.
  41. ^ a b Karpat 2004, 615.

Bibliography

  • Ataöv, Türkkaya (1992), THE ETHNIC TURKISH MINORITY IN WESTERN THRACE, GREECE, http://dergiler.ankara.edu.tr/: The Turkish Yearbook of International Relations {{citation}}: External link in |place= and |title= (help)
  • Clogg, Richard (2002), Minorities in Greece: Aspects of a Plural Society, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, ISBN 185065705X.
  • Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly (2007), Parliamentary Assembly: Working Papers 2007 Ordinary Session 22-26 January 2007, Council of Europe, ISBN 9287161917.
  • Hirschon, Renée (2003), Crossing the Aegean: An Appraisal of the 1923 Compulsory Population Exchange Between Greece and Turkey, Berghahn Books, ISBN 1571815627.
  • Karpat, Kemal (2002), Studies on Ottoman Social and Political History: Selected Articles and Essays, BRILL, ISBN 9004121013.
  • Karpat, Kemal H. (2004), Studies on Turkish Politics and Society: Selected Articles and Essays:Volume 94 of Social, economic, and political studies of the Middle East, BRILL, ISBN 9004133224.
  • Madianou, Mirca (2005), Mediating the nation: news, audiences and the politics of identity, Routledge Cavendish, ISBN 1844720284.
  • Minahan, James (2002), Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: S-Z, Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 0313323844.
  • Levinson, David (1998), Ethnic groups worldwide: a ready reference handbook, Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 9781573560191.
  • Öksüz, Hikmet (2004), The Reasons for Immigration from Western Thrace to Turkey (1923-1950), http://www.azinlikca.net/: Turkish Review of Balkan Studies {{citation}}: External link in |place= and |title= (help)
  • Panayi, Panikos (1999), Outsiders: a history of European minorities, Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 1573560197.
  • Sugar, Peter F. (1983), Southeastern Europe under Ottoman rule, 1354-1804, University of Washington Press, ISBN 0295960337.
  • Westerlund, David; Svanberg, Ingvar (1999), Islam Outside the Arab World, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 0312226918.
  • Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association (2009), Western Thrace Turkish Minority, http://www.pekem.org/: Culture and Education Foundation of Western Thrace Minority {{citation}}: External link in |place= and |title= (help)
  • Whitman, Lois (1990), Destroying ethnic identity: the Turks of Greece, Human Rights Watch, ISBN 0929692705.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Turks_of_Western_Thrace&oldid=339172292"