From: sera@zuma.UUCP (Serdar Argic) Subject: Re: Minority Abuses in Greece. Reply-To: sera@zuma.UUCP (Serdar Argic) Distribution: world Lines: 201 In article mpoly@panix.com (Michael S. Polymenakos) writes: > Well, ZUMABOT claims just the opposite: That Greeks are not allowing >Turks to exit the country. Now, explain this: The number of Turks in >Thrace has steadily risen from 50,000 in 23 to 80,000, while the Greeks of Dr. Goebels thought that a lie repeated enough times could finally be believed. I have been observing that 'Poly' has been practicing Goebels' rule quite loyally. 'Poly's audience is mostly made of Greeks who are not allowed to listen to Turkish news. However, in today's informed world Greek propagandists can only fool themselves. For instance, those who lived in 1974 will remember the TV news they watched and the newspapers they read and the younger generation can read the American newspapers of July and August 1974 to find out what really happened. There are in Turkiye the Greek Hospital, The Greek Girls' Lycee Alumni Association, the Principo Islands Greek Benevolent Society, the Greek Medical Foundation, the Principo Greek Orphanage Foundation, the Yovakimion Greek Girls' Lycee Foundation, and the Fener Greek Men's Lycee Foundation. As for Greece, the longstanding use of the adjective 'Turkish' in titles and on signboards is prohibited. The Greek courts have ordered the closure of the Turkish Teachers' Association, the Komotini Turkish Youth Association and the Ksanti Turkish Association on grounds that there are no Turks in Western Thrace. Such community associations had been active until 1984. But they were first told to remove the word 'Turkish' on their buildings and on their official papers and then eventually close down. This is also the final verdict (November 4, 1987) of the Greek High Court. In the city of Komotini, a former Greek Parliamentarian of Turkish parentage, was sentenced recently to 18 months of imprisonment with no right to appeal, just for saying outloud that he was of Turkish descent. This duly-elected ethnic Turkish official was also deprived of his political rights for a period of three years. Each one of these barbaric acts seems to be none other than a vehicle, used by the Greek governments, to cover-up their inferiority complex they display, vis-a-vis, the people of Turkiye. The Agreement on the Exchange of Minorities uses the term 'Turks,' which demonstrates what is actually meant by the previous reference to 'Muslims.' The fact that the Greek governments also mention the existence of a few thousand non-Turkish Muslims does not change the essential reality that there lives in Western Thrace a much bigger Turkish minority. The 'Pomaks' are also a Muslim people, whom all the three nations (Bulgarians, Turks, and Greeks) consider as part of themselves. Do you know how the Muslim Turkish minority was organized according to the agreements? Poor 'Poly.' It also proves that the Turkish people are trapped in Greece and the Greek people are free to settle anywhere in the world. The Greek authorities deny even the existence of a Turkish minority. They pursue the same denial in connection with the Macedonians of Greece. Talk about oppression. In addition, in 1980 the 'democratic' Greek Parliament passed Law No. 1091, virtually taking over the administration of the vakiflar and other charitable trusts. They have ceased to be self-supporting religious and cultural entities. Talk about fascism. The Greek governments are attempting to appoint the muftus, irrespective of the will of the Turkish minority, as state official. Although the Orthodox Church has full authority in similar matters in Greece, the Muslim Turkish minority will have no say in electing its religious leaders. Talk about democracy. The government of Greece has recently destroyed an Islamic convention in Komotini. Such destruction, which reflects an attitude against the Muslim Turkish cultural heritage, is a violation of the Lausanne Convention as well as the 'so-called' Greek Constitution, which is supposed to guarantee the protection of historical monuments. The government of Greece, on the other hand, is building new churches in remote villages as a complementary step toward Hellenizing the region. And you pondered. Sidiropoulos, the president of the Macedonian Human Rights Committee, became the latest victim of a tactic long used by the Greeks to silence critics of policies of forced assimilation of the Macedonian minority. A forestry official by occupation, Sidiropoulos has been sent to 'internal exile' on the island of Kefalonia, hundreds of kilometers away from his native Florina. His employer, the Florina City Council, asked him to depart in 24 hours. The Greek authorities are trying to punish him for his involvement in Copenhagen. He returned to Florina by his own choice and remains without a job. Helsinki Watch, a well-known Human Rights group, had been investigating the plight of the Turkish Minority in Greece. In August 1990, their findings were published in a report titled 'Destroying Ethnic Identity: Turks of Greece.' The report confirmed gross violations of the Human Rights of the Turkish minority by the Greek authorities. It says for instance, the Greek government recently destroyed an Islamic convent in Komotini. Such destruction, which reflects an attitude against the Muslim Turkish cultural heritage, is a violation of the Lausanne Convention. The Turkish cemeteries in the village of Vafeika and in Pinarlik were attacked, and tombstones were broken. The cemetery in Karotas was razed by bulldozers. Shall I go on? Why not? The people of Turkiye are not going to take human rights lessons from the Greek Government. The discussion of human rights violations in Greece does not stop at the Greek frontier. In several following articles I shall dwell on and expose the Greek treatment of Turks in Western Thrace and the Aegean Macedonians. It has been reported that the Greek Cypriot administration has an intense desire for arms and that Greece has made plans to supply it with the tanks and armored vehicles it has to destroy in accordance with the agreement reached on conventional arms reductions in Europe. Meanwhile, Greek and Greek Cypriot officials are reported to have planned to take ostentatious measures aimed at camouflaging the transfer of these tanks and armored vehicles to southern Cyprus, a process that will conflict with the spirit of the agreement on conventional arms reduction in Europe. An acceptable method may certainly be found when there is a will. But we know of various kinds of violent behaviors ranging from physical attacks to the burning of buildings. The rugs at the Amfia village mosque were dragged out to the front of the building and burnt there. Shots were fired on the mosque in the village of Aryana. Now wait, there is more. 'Greek Atrocities in the Vilayet of Smyrna (May to July 1919), Inedited Documents and Evidence of English and French Officers,' Published by The Permanent Bureau of the Turkish Congress at Lausanne, Lausanne, Imprimerie Petter, Giesser & Held, Caroline, 5 (1919). pages 82-83: << 1. The train going from Denizli to Smyrna was stopped at Ephesus and the 90 Turkish travellers, men and women who were in it ordered to descend. And there in the open street, under the eyes of their husbands, fathers and brothers, the women without distinction of age were violated, and then all the travellers were massacred. Amongst the latter the Lieutenant Salih Effendi, a native of Tripoli, and a captain whose name is not known, and to whom the Hellenic authorities had given safe conduct, were killed with specially atrocious tortures. 2. Before the battle, the wife of the lawyer Enver Bey coming from her garden was maltreated by Greek soldiers, she was even stript of her garments and her servant Assie was violated. 3. The two tax gatherers Mustapha and Ali Effendi were killed in the following manner: Their arms were bound behind their backs with wire and their heads were battered and burst open with blows from the butt end of a gun. 4. During the firing of the town, eleven children, six little girls and five boys, fleeing from the flames, were stopped by Greek soldiers in the Ramazan Pacha quarter, and thrown into a burning Jewish house near bridge, where they were burnt alive. This fact is confirmed on oath by the retired commandant Hussein Hussni Effendi who saw it. 5. The clock-maker Ahmed Effendi and his son Sadi were arrested and dragged out of their shop. The son had his eyes put out and was then killed in the court of the Greek Church, but Ahmed Effendi has been no more heard of. 6. At the market, during the fire, two unknown people were wounded by bayonets, then bound together, thrown into the fire and burnt alive. The Greeks killed also many Jews. These are the names of some: Moussa Malki, shoemaker killed Bohor Levy, tailor killed Bohor Israel, cobbler killed Isaac Calvo, shoemaker killed David Aroguete killed Moussa Lerosse killed Gioia Katan killed Meryem Malki killed Soultan Gharib killed Isaac Sabah wounded Moche Fahmi wounded David Sabah wounded Moise Bensignor killed Sarah Bendi killed Jacob Jaffe wounded Aslan Halegna wounded....>> Serdar Argic 'We closed the roads and mountain passes that might serve as ways of escape for the Turks and then proceeded in the work of extermination.' (Ohanus Appressian - 1919) 'In Soviet Armenia today there no longer exists a single Turkish soul.' (Sahak Melkonian - 1920)