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Turks of Western Thrace

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The southern part of the region of Thrace.

Turks of Western Thrace (Turkish: Batı Trakya Türkleri) are ethnic Turks who live in Western Thrace, in the north-eastern part of Greece.

According to the Greek census of 1991, there were approximately 50,000 Turks in Western Thrace, out of the approximately 98,000 strong Muslim minority of Greece.[1] Other sources estimate the size of the Turkish community between 120,000 and 130,000.[2][3] The Turks of Western Thrace are not to be confused with Pomaks or Muslim Roma people of the same region, counting 35% and 15% of the muslim minority respectfully[4][5].

In response to the illegal[6] "declaration of independence" of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1983, the Greek government adopted a policy of refering to the Turkish community as Greek Muslims or Hellenic Muslims, and does not recognise a separate Turkish minority in Western Thrace.[2]. Nevertheless, the fundamental rights of this community are enshrined in the Greek constitution and the Treaty of Lausanne.

History

See also: Ottoman Greece, Provisional Government of Western Thrace, and Population exchange between Greece and Turkey

Western Thrace became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1354 and remained in Turkish hands until 1913. At this time, the Turkish community outnumbered the Greek community four to one and owned close to 84% of the land. By August 31, 1913 the Turks of Western Thrace had formed the first 'Turkish republic', the Provisional Government of Western Thrace.[7] However, it was taken over by the Kingdom of Bulgaria on October 25, 1913, 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] By 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] Under a protocol of the same year, the Turks of Western Thrace were exempted from the 1922-1923 exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey and were granted rights within the framework of the Lausanne Treaty. However, since 1923, between 300,000 to 400,000 Turks have left Western Thrace most of which have immigrated to Turkey.[10][11]

According to the Turkish thesis, as it was presented at Lausanne Peace Conference (1923), the general distribution of population in Western Thrace was as follows[12]:

General Distribution of Population in Western Thrace in 1923 (before the population exchange)[12]
Cities Turks Greeks Bulgarians Jews Armenians Total
Komotini 59,967 (74,8%) 8,834 (11%) 9,997 (12,5%) 1,007 (1,3%) 360 (0,4%) 80,165 (100%)
Alexandroupolis 11,744 (42,7%) 4,800 (17,5%) 10,227 (37,2%) 253 (0,9%) 449 (1,6%) 27,473 (100%)
Soufli 14,736 (46,4%) 11,542 (36,3%) 5,490 (17,3%) - - 31,768 (100%)
Xanthi 42,671 (81,7%) 8,728 (16,7%) 522 (1%) 220 (0,4%) 114 (0,2%) 52,255 (100%)
Total 129,120 (67,4%) 33,910 (17,7%) 26,266 (13,7%) 1,480 (0,8%) 923 (0,5%) 191,699 (100%)

Demographics

See also: Demographics of Greece

The Turkish community has a strong presence in Komotini (Turkish: Gümülcine) and Xanthi (Turkish: İskeçe) departments, while it is scarcely present in the Evros prefecture, the closest to the international boundary with Turkey. According to estimates, Muslims as a whole, represented 36-38% of the Rhodopi Department population, 12-24% in the Xanthi Department and less than 5% in the Evros Department.[13]

Culture

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.[14] However, the Greek language is also widely used.[citation needed]

Obligations of the Treaty of Lausanne

Article 37 through 45 of the Lausanne Treaty set forth the obligations of the Greek and Turkish governments to protect the Turkish and Greek minorities in their territories. Each country agreed to provide the following:[15]

  • Protection of life and liberty without regard to birth, nationality, language, race or religion
  • Free exercise of religion
  • Freedom of movement and of emigration
  • Equality before the law
  • The same civil and political rights enjoyed by the majority
  • Free use of language in private, in commerce, in religion, the press and publications, at public meetings and in the courts
  • The right to establish and control charitable, religious and social institutions and schools
  • Primary schools in which instruction is given in both languages
  • Full protection for religious establishments and pious foundation

The Lausanne Treaty defined the rights of the Muslim communities in Western Thrace, on the basis of religion, not ethnicity, as well as maintained a balance between the minority communities of both countries (Turks in Greece and Greeks in Turkey) on reciprocal obligations toward each of those minorities. The Treaty contained specific obligations for their cultural and religious rights. However, at no time since 1923 did Greek officials instigate, support, or undertake measures against the Muslims of Western Thrace similar to those undertaken by successive Turkish Governments against the Greek minority in Turkey (like forced labor battalions, the Istanbul pogrom), a minority that is nearly eliminated today (70,000 in 1923 to 3,000 in 2000).[16]

Politics

Members of the Greek Parliament

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, and the Party of Friendship, Equality and Peace, which succeeded the Independent Muslim List in 1991, practically disappeared from the electoral scene.[17]

Turkish MPs from Rhodopi and Xanthi[17]
election elected Turkish MPs
1989 (June) Sadık Ahmet (Independent Muslim List)
1989 (November) Ismail Molla (Independent Muslim List)
1990 Sadık Ahmet, Ahmet Faikoğlu (Independent Muslim List)
1993 none
1996 Mustafa Mustafa (Synaspismós), Galip Galip (PASOK, architect),[18] Birol Akifoglu (ND)
2000 Galip Galip (PASOK), Mehmet Ahmet (PASOK; Mehmet Ahmet, already elected in 1981, was not directly elected in 2000, but he acted so that the elected MP, Hrissa Manolia, was forced to abandon her seat because she had not relinquished her other political mandate at the local level)[17]
2004 İlhan Ahmet (New Democracy, lawyer)
2007 Çetin Mandacı (PASOK), Ahmet Hacıosman (PASOK)
2009 Çetin Mandacı (PASOK), Ahmet Hacıosman (PASOK)
2012 Ayhan Karayusuf (Syriza, dentist), Hüseyin Zeybek (Syriza, pharmacist), Ahmet Hacıosman (PASOK)[19]

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.[20]

At least 14 candidates from the Turkish minority have been nominated, mainly in Rhodope and Xanthi.[21]

For New Democracy, former MP (2004–2007) İlhan Ahmet and Ahmet Ahmet are candidates in Rhodope,[22] and in Xanthi Aysel Zeybek and Ahmet Budur.[23] Zeybek had lost her Greek citizenship under Article 19 of the Greek Citizenship Code, which allowed of its revocation for non-ethnic Greeks who left the country.[24] After a lengthy legal battle, she finally won her case with a second appeal 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.[25]

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,[26] and in Rhodope[27] Dr. Mustafa Mustafa (former MP) and Celalettin Yurtçu.[28]

Human rights issues

See also: Human rights in Greece

Citizenship

According to the former Article 19 of the 1955 Citizenship Law (No. 3370), a person of non-Greek ethnic origin leaving Greece without the intention of returning may be declared as having lost Greek nationality. 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.[29] The application of this law to the Turks of Western Thrace was a retaliatory measure in response to the devastating state-sponsored pogrom which targeted the Greeks of Istanbul in September of 1955[30]. The pogrom precipitated an exodus of ethnic Greeks from Turkey. Article 19 was repealed in 1998, though not retroactively.[29]

According to an article dated 1999 by Michael Stephen LL M, of the Inner Temple Barrister, and former Member of the British Parliament, the said Greek laws were "clearly based on racial discrimination"[31]. Stephen also stresses the fact that Greece, by then, had not yet signed the 1959 UN Convention on Statelessness, Article 9 of which provides that "a Contracting State may not deprive any person or group of persons of their nationality on racial, ethnic, religious or political grounds" [32]. In Stephen's opinion, "the cancellation of a person’s citizenship, together with all his rights as a citizen, including his property rights and social security, is about the most serious invasion of human rights short of murder as it is possible to imagine. It is surprising that such a fundamental departure from the accepted norms of civilised behaviour should have lasted so long in Greece, a member of the European Union, which claims to be a democratic state governed by the rule of law"[33].

Ethnic identity

Since the Treaty of Lausanne used the criterion of religion to refer to the ethnic communities, Greek Government spokesmen have usually insisted that the basis of identification is religious and not ethnic (or national).[34] Thus Greek officials refer to the Muslim minority in Greece, but deny the existence of a Turkish minority.[35][36][37] This policy was introduced immediately after the illegal[38] "declaration of independence" of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1983 on lands that once had an 82% Greek majority before being expelled following the Turkish invasion in 1974. The Greek government declared that it was a measure to avert the possibility of Greek Thrace becoming a "second Cyprus" sometime in the future[39]

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.[40] 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.[41]

Freedom of expression

More than 10 newspapers are issued in the Turkish language. According to some sources, newspapers, magazines and books published in Turkey are not allowed entry into Western Thrace,[42] and Turkish television and radio stations are sometimes jammed.[43] According to other sources the minority has full and independent access to its own newspapers radio, television, and other written media coming from Turkey, regardless of their content.[44]

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.[11][45]

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[46] 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.[47] According to another source, more than 5 new mosques are being built in the prefecture of Xanthi alone and 19 new mosques are being built in the prefecture of Rhodope alone, while in the same prefecture the number of mosques exceeds 160.[48]

Incidents

According to a report by a local organization there have been frequent (six in 2010 and three in the first months of 2011) attacks against the private and public property of Turks in Western Thrace. Among the recent incidents are three in 2010 (in Kahveci, Kırmahalle, Popos and Ifestos at Komotini) where attackers desecrated Turkish cemeteries and broke tombstones. There were also attacks against mosques, Turkish associations and Turkish consulates, attackers used methods like throwing stones, molotov bombs and damaging buildings.[49][50][51][52][53]

Migration

Internal migration

In the 1980s, the Greek Government offered clerical jobs in banks and public administrations in Athens to the Turkish speaking minority[54] allegedly to weaken their presence in Western Thrace.[55] 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.[55] 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.[56] By leaving Western Thrace and integrating into Athens, some Turks that are still living in Western Thrace have seen those who have migrated to Athens as 'betraying' their community.[57]

Diaspora

Between 300,000 to 400,000 Turks have left Western Thrace since 1923; most of them immigrated to Turkey.[10][11] Western Thrace Turks have also immigrated to Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Austria and Italy. Thus, overall there are an estimated 1 million Turks whose roots are from Western Thrace.[58]

Americas

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.[59] 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.[59]

Europe

It is estimated that there is between 25,000 and 40,000 Western Thrace Turks living in Western Europe.[60][61]

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.[62] The majority of Turks immigrated from Western Thrace.[63] In the 1960s and 1970s, the Thracian tobacco industry was affected by a severe 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 between 12,000[64] and 25,000[65] residing in Germany.

Netherlands

See also: Turks in the Netherlands

A minority of Western Thrace Turks can be found in the Netherlands, especially in the Randstad region; after Germany, the Netherlands is the most popular destination for Turkish immigrants.[66]

United Kingdom

See also: Turks in the United Kingdom and Turks in London

There is an estimated 600-700 Western Thrace Turks living in London although this does not include those who are British born. The total number living outside of London is unknown.[66] However even their small number, Western Thrace Turks in the UK have a own comminty (Association of Western Thrace Turks UK)[67]

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ^ Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "The Muslim Minority of Greek Thrace". Retrieved 2010-01-20.
  2. ^ a b Whitman 1990, i.
  3. ^ Levinson 1998, 41.
  4. ^ Υπουργείο Εξωτερικών, Υπηρεσία Ενημέρωσης: Μουσουλμάνικη μειονότητα Θράκης
  5. ^ Greek Helsinki Monitor: Religious freedom in Greece
  6. ^ "UN Security Council Resolution 541".
  7. ^ Ataöv 1992, 90.
  8. ^ Panayi 1999, 51.
  9. ^ Whitman 1990, 1.
  10. ^ a b Hirschon 2003, 107.
  11. ^ a b c Whitman 1990, 2.
  12. ^ a b Öksüz 2004, 255.
  13. ^ Kotzamanis, Byron (August 25–29, 2008). "La minorité musulmane en Thrace : La mesure du caché" (PDF). colloque Démographie et cultures (in French). Québec: Association Internationale des Démographes de Langue Française (AIDELF). Retrieved January 23, 2010. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ Ethnologue. "Languages of Greece". Retrieved 2010-01-20.
  15. ^ Whitman 1990, 5-6.
  16. ^ Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe: p. 8-9
  17. ^ a b c Hersant, Jeanne (August 2009). "Mobilisation identitaire et représentation politique des 'Turcs' en Thrace occidentale : les élections législatives grecques de mars 2004". European Journal of Turkish Studies (in French). Retrieved 2010-08-04. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ son of the former MP Hajihafuz Ali Galip Sampachedin
  19. ^ Çetin Mandacı, who was running as an independent after having been expelled with other anti-debt plan dissenters from the PASOK, was not reelected
  20. ^ Βιογραφικά - ΟΣΜΑΝ ΑΧΜΕΤ ΧΑΤΖΗ, ΒΟΥΛΕΥΤΗΣ ΡΟΔΟΠΗΣ, ΣΗΜΑ ΤΟΥ ΠΑΝΕΛΛΗΝΙΟΥ ΣΟΣΙΑΛΙΣΤΙΚΟΥ ΚΙΝΗΜΑΤΟΣ, Βουλή των Ελλήνων, , accessed on September 24, 2009
  21. ^ Chris Loutradis, Turkish candidate stirs debate in Greek polls, Hürriyet Daily News, September 22, 2009, accessed on September 24, 2009
  22. ^ candidates for the Rodopi circonscription, website of New Democracy, accessed on September 24, 2009
  23. ^ candidates for the Xanthi circonscription, website of New Democracy, accessed on September 24, 2009
  24. ^ Harassment of Aysel Zeybek and The Responses, The Balkan Human Rights Web Pages, accessed on September 24, 2009
  25. ^ Template:Tr Hasan Hacı, PASOK, Türk milletvekili adaylarını, Rodop Rüzgârı, September 10, 2009, accessed on September 25, 2009
  26. ^ ΞΑΝΘΗΣ Νομός ΞΑΝΘΗΣ - Υποψήφιοι
  27. ^ ΡΟΔΟΠΗΣ Νομός ΡΟΔΟΠΗΣ - Υποψήφιοι
  28. ^ Hasan Haci, Turkish minority vote worth its weight in gold in Greek elections, Today's Zaman, October 3, 2009
  29. ^ a b Human Rights Watch, Greece - The Turks of Western Thrace, January 1999
  30. ^ Anagnostou, Dia (2005). "Deepening Democracy or Defending the Nation? The Europeanisation of minority Rights and Greek Citizenship". West European Politics. 28 (2): 338. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  31. ^ http://sam.gov.tr/tr/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/MICHAEL-STEPHEN.pdf
  32. ^ http://sam.gov.tr/tr/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/MICHAEL-STEPHEN.pdf
  33. ^ http://sam.gov.tr/tr/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/MICHAEL-STEPHEN.pdf
  34. ^ Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe: p. 6
  35. ^ Whitman 1990, 14.
  36. ^ Whitman 1990, 15.
  37. ^ Madianou 2005, 34.
  38. ^ "UN Security Council Resolution 541".
  39. ^ Antoniou, Dimitris (2005). "Western Thracian Muslims in Athens". Balkanologie. IX (1–2).
  40. ^ Whitman 1990, 16.
  41. ^ Whitman 1990, 17.
  42. ^ Karpat 2002, 537.
  43. ^ Whitman 1990, 24.
  44. ^ Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe: p. 10, 16
  45. ^ Hirschon 2003, 106
  46. ^ Whitman 1990, 26.
  47. ^ Whitman 1990, 27.
  48. ^ Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe: p. 10, 13
  49. ^ Parallel Report by Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe on the 2010 Human Rights Report: Greece 8 April 2011 [1]
  50. ^ Vandals desecrate Turkish graves in Greece, police say Hürriyet Daily News, 15 August 2010 [2]
  51. ^ Muslim Cemetery in Komotini Vandalized Greek Reporter, 15 August 2010 [3]
  52. ^ Desecrations of cemeteries are hate crimes that exacerbate intolerance Council of Europe, 30 December 2010 [4]
  53. ^ July-December, 2010 International Religious Freedom Report, Greece, US Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor [5]
  54. ^ Lytra 2007, 40.
  55. ^ a b Madianou 2005, 36.
  56. ^ Madianou 2005, 36-37.
  57. ^ Madianou 2005, 37.
  58. ^ Kultur. "BATI TRAKYA TÜRK EDEBİYATI". Retrieved 2010-05-20.
  59. ^ a b Karpat 2004, 615.
  60. ^ Şentürk 2008, 420.
  61. ^ Witten Batı Trakya Türkleri Yardımlaşma ve Dayanışma Derneği. "Batı Trakya`da "Aynı Gökyüzü Altında" bir Güldeste". Retrieved 2010-05-20.
  62. ^ Westerlund & Svanberg 1999, 320-321.
  63. ^ Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly 2007, 118.
  64. ^ Clogg 2002, 84.
  65. ^ International Assembly of Western Thrace Turks. "POLITICAL AND CIVIL ORGANISATION COMMISSION". Retrieved 2010-05-19.
  66. ^ a b Şentürk 2008, 427.
  67. ^ Official website of Association of Western Thrace Turks in UK

Bibliography

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