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Chairman of Centre for Studies of the Turks from Western Thrace: Culture and democracy in Greece are only for the Greeks â€“ INTERVIEW

Chairman of Centre for Studies of the Turks from Western Thrace: Culture and democracy in Greece are only for the Greeks â€“ <font color=red>INTERVIEW </font>

29 October 2011 14:14 (UTC +04:00)

-Various figures are shown concerning the number of the Turks living in Western Thrace region of Greece. How many Turks live there?

-Though it is shown differently in the official reports, 150 000 Turks live in Greece. This is the population that we have been able to protect. Actually, there must have been 800 000 Turks in Western Thrace. Most of the Turks have left those territories. There are a lot of Thrace Turks in Europe, US and Turkey.

- What is the reason of this migration?

-The migration has one reason, pressure. Some were detained and underwent torture, some businessmen underwent pressure. As a result of it, these people were obliged to leave their lands. The Turks were even obliged to leave a part of the territories that had been once densely-populated by them.

-So, it means that the situation is not so good.

-Yes, it is. The world media keeps silence about it. The situation of the Turks living in Greece â€“ Western Thrace is not satisfactory. If we approach this issue individually, we will see that the socio-economic conditions of Turks are not bad, because a great majority of Turks are engaged in agriculture. But as regards the human rights, their rights are not ensured. According to Article 5 of the Constitution of Greece, all persons living within the Greek territory shall enjoy full protection of their life, honour and liberty irrespective of nationality, race or language and of religious or political beliefs. The rights of other communities â€“ Christians, Greeks are ensured, while the rights of Turks of Western Trace are not recognized. This is our problem. Greece denies our rights depicted in its Constitution. So, the Turks are living under pressure in Greece. This should be a shameful fact for Greece.

-Are you struggling against it?

-Of course, we are struggling. We have got newspapers. But they are also facing pressures by the government. These newspapers are often involved in trials by the forces close to the government, they are fined or closed.

-What can you say about the education of Turks in their mother tongue?

-One of our serious problems is connected with education. It is not allowed to provide secondary schools with new textbooks. Old textbooks published 20 years ago are given to schools, though Turkey and Greece signed an agreement on education and according to the agreement textbooks are to be brought from Turkey. But the government of Greece has imposed restrictions on it. According to the laws of Greece, compulsory education is 9 years, while this is 6 years for Western Thrace Turks.

-Are your objections taken into account?

- We are represented by two MPs in the parliament of Greece. They periodically submit documents to the parliament concerning this situation. But no positive results have been made yet. The racial policy stands in the root of the attitude towards us, whereas the Turks in Greece are wealth for this country.

-Are you going to address the Turkic world in order to draw the worldâ€™s attention to this problem?

-We want to make use of the potential of the press of the Turkic world, because Greece pays attention to the issues covered by the foreign media. We want the Turkic-speaking countriesâ€™ media to pay attention to the problems of the Turkic communities all over the world. The entire world will be able to see the level of democracy in Greece and we will partially achieve the solution of the problems. Unfortunately, all states put their personal interests before all else. It is clear that no Turkic state will say to Greece â€œYou have racist attitude towards Turksâ€, nor will exert pressure on it. We understand that politics has its own standards. We want he Turkic statesâ€™ media to pay attention to this problem. Previously, the world had not been so globalized. Greece could introduce itself as it wished. Nowadays it is possible to make public the problems inside the country. Culture and democracy in Greece are only for the Greeks.