What is going on with our neighbor?
by
ÖZLEM TÜRKÖNE*

In reply to the prime minister's words, Greek Foreign Affairs Minister Dora Bakoyannis defended our neighbor Greece as a country that implements the policy of equality before the law in Thrace within the framework of the Treaty of Lausanne and with full respect for international and European laws. Furthermore, she added that Greece is proud of the policy it has assumed.

These words look in good shape, but how closely do they mirror reality?

For years, the Greek authorities have been violating their obligations laid out by the Lausanne Peace Treaty and other international treaties to which Greece is a party.

It is not me who is speaking of these realities but a report prepared by Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg following his visit to Greece on Dec. 8-10, 2008. I find it extremely important to bring up some significant conclusions of this report in this article because I am a member of the Turkish delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and because Mr. Hammarberg presented this document in accordance with his mandate as an independent and impartial head of an institution of the Council of Europe in order to promote the effective implementation of Council of Europe standards relating to minority and human rights protection.

It is known that the Greek government has been appointing the muftis of Muslim Turks living in Western Thrace according to its own will instead of recognizing the muftis elected by the Muslims in the region themselves. The commissioner stated in his report that he “has observed that the continuing practice of appointment of the muftis by the Greek state, excluding their direct election by members of the Muslim minority, has caused in the past and continues to cause deep disappointment and reactions by members of the Muslim minority.”

Even without the Lausanne Treaty, Turkey has accepted the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate's residing in İstanbul, as has been the case for centuries, continuing a long tradition of religious tolerance in Turkey. Furthermore, as the prime minister stated in the interview, since the foundation of the Turkish Republic, there has never been an intervention in the election process, meaning the patriarchs have always been elected freely by the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate. Also, there is no restriction on foreign clergy to work in Turkey. As of December 2006, 122 foreign clergymen have been registered with working permits to serve in places of worship.

The Halki Seminary issue is also not a disputed issue at all. The Heybeliada seminary's department of theology had to cease functioning in 1971 as a consequence of an introduction of a general piece of legislation in Turkey. The law amending the Law on Private Educational Institutions underlines that no private educational institution identical or similar to public institutions conducting religious education instruction can be set up (Article 3). Article 24 of the Constitution on the freedom of religion and conscience stipulates, inter alia, that education and instruction in religion and ethics shall be conducted under state supervision and control. Nevertheless, our government has been searching for a formula to integrate the Orthodox theological school into Turkey's university system and this obviously demonstrates that there is nothing wrong with Turkey carrying out its commitments to Greek minorities.

The denial of ethnic identity is also another disputed issue at hand and it is also handled in the report clearly.

The commissioner's report titles the subject “Human Rights of Minorities” and explains the matter as follows: “The Commissioner remains deeply concerned about the persistent denial by Greek authorities of the existence on Greece's territory of minorities other than the tripartite Muslim one in Western Thrace, despite the recommendations made so far notably by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance [ECRI], the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the UN Human Rights Committee.”

The Greek authorities very directly mean that “there are no Turks in Greece, only Muslims.” Right? Unfortunately, this very distorted perspective is the official Greek view and has always been a great obstacle to the development of the cultural identity of the minority. Generally, ethnic references such as Turkish or Macedonian, intended to be used in names of minority associations, cause a disturbance in Greece. Minority organizations have suffered heavily from this intervention by facing domestic courts' refusal to allow their registration. It is also not rare to be rendered judgments of dissolution of associations grounded on concerns related to being against the public order or promoting some cultural, social or religious ideas, taking as its source ethnic propaganda. Hammarberg's report is full of case patterns that were decreed in the national courts of Greece against minority associations. But the commissioner should be thanked for mentioning/underlining the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in which Greece was found in a violation of the right to freedom of association of minorities, which are free to enjoy this right as much as all other citizens. Because, as was stressed by the commissioner, “seeking an ethnic identity or asserting a minority consciousness” is the main functioning of associations and only by allowing this function to express itself can the freedom of establishment, which contributes great importance to democratic pluralism, be saved.

Contradictive implementations violating minority rights in Greece do not seem to end. Here is another example:

Greece denaturalized thousands of minority members called “alloyenis” -- citizens of non-Greek descent -- through the former Article 19 of the Greek Nationality Code. According to the article, a Greek citizen of non-Greek ethnic origin legally leaving Greece may be declared as having lost Greek citizenship by decision of the minister of interior. This provision was applied from 1955 to 1998, and the majority of the 60,000 Greek citizens who lost their citizenship have been of Turkish ethnic origin. I would like to open here a final parenthesis for Hammarberg's opinion on this issue: “The ECRI has noted that Greece has not taken measures that would lead to the reparation of the serious consequences that arose from the deprivation of citizenship on the basis of Article 19.”

Hammarberg's report maybe does not tell us what we would like to hear, but it does state realities. We now know how far Foreign Minister Bakoyannis's words stand from the realities.

And what about the realities of Turkey? As a country whose land has traditionally been home to those in need, fleeing religious persecution throughout history, and where interfaith dialogue and harmony have deep roots, Turkey truly stands at a point different from Greece.

In addition to regulations with regard to Turkish citizens belonging to non-Muslim minorities as stipulated in the Treaty of Lausanne, legislative and administrative revision has also been carried out as to the freedom of religion of all citizens and foreigners residing in Turkey. In this regard, non-Muslim places of worship are administered by their own associations and foundations. The property rights of places of worship rest with the real or legal persons that founded them.

The new Law on Foundations, which came into effect as of February 2008, significantly improves the property rights of all foundations in Turkey, including those of non-Muslim community foundations.

As regards the criminal legislative framework, obstructing the exercise of the freedom of religion, belief and conviction constitutes an offense according to Article 115 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). Furthermore, incitement to religious hatred, public denigration of any group on the basis of their religion or sect as well as the defamation of religious values is penalized under Article 216 of the TCK.

Proselytizing religious beliefs or convictions is not prohibited under Turkish law. To the contrary, preventing a person from disseminating or expressing their religious beliefs through the use of force or threat constitutes an offense under the TCK.

The European Court of Human Rights, evaluating complaints lodged against Turkey, has found no violation of Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which regulates non-discrimination, on the basis of religious discrimination.

In spite of this very open attitude of Turkey on this issue, we cannot observe a parallel stance taken by Greece relating to the protection of minorities and freedom of religion. Greece's minority policy has been violating major Council of Europe treaties, such as the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the European Convention on Nationality and the Fourth Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights, this in addition to contradicting statements of UN bodies such as the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Both the institutions and the documents can be called by many titles, but all aim to reach an international standard, inter alia, of religious freedom on a universal basis to be followed by all states of the international community.

The Lausanne Treaty is still considered one of those international documents providing explicit protection of the Greek minority in İstanbul and reciprocally for the Turkish minority in Western Thrace. The principle of reciprocity presented in the treaty is there to provide a minimum standard of guarantee for both the two countries' religious minorities, not to establish a ground for a perception of “if a right is not recognized by our neighbor, will too will not recognize it.” One country's violation of a law cannot justify another country's violation of the same law. Hence, Greece has to be aware of its obligations while Turkey too has to be aware of its obligations separately, without counting one another's violations.

Human rights protection is a very delicate issue that needs to be monitored by every state, wherever their geographic or strategic location may be. Nevertheless, we have to accept that some regions' distinctive roles have been assumed to lead the rest of the world. The West plays this role, as has always been the case.

Greece is a part of that West, the European concern which has itself always been eager about building that principal core of human rights and freedoms, democracy and the rule of law, which have been memorized by us so as to be applied within our politics, to be adopted in our domestic laws and to enhance our living standards.

That is why we all have to ask Greeks, as the prime minister has: What is going on with our neighbor?