The Turkish community in the Dodecanese Islands
Along with the Turkish minority of Western Thrace in Greece, there is a Turkish community in Greece living in the Dodecanese, mainly based in Rhodes (Rodos) and Kos (İstanköy). Its population is estimated to be around 6 thousand.
However, they do not have official minority rights like the Western Thrace Turks. The fact that the Dodecanese Islands were under Italian rule when the Lausanne Peace Treaty was signed makes it impossible for Greece to recognize them as a minority. The Dodecanese were handed over to Greece following the conclusion of the Paris Peace Treaty in 1947.
While it was mentioned above that the population is around 6 thousand, in the early 20th century, there were around 20 thousand Turkish inhabitants in the Dodecanese. However, due to restrictions applied to the members of the Turkish community, also valid for the Western Thrace Turks such as in starting a business and purchasing real estate, they had to leave the Dodecanese. The Turks mainly living in Rhodes had to even sign a paper stating that they would not return. The Turks of Dodecanese also lost their citizenship under Article 19 of the Greek Citizenship Code.
Denial of ethnic identity
The same implementation which is applied for the Western Thrace Turks is also applied for the Dodecanes Turks. The ethnic identity of Turks of Rhodes and Kos, who are referred to only as “Muslims” by the Greek authorities, is denied. They are not allowed to establish associations, titles of which contain the word “Turk”/ “Turkish” just like the Western Thrace Turks. The “Rhodes Turkish Society”, which was founded in 1912, was outlawed in 1968 and was closed down in 1987.
Lack of mother language teaching
In 1972, three bilingual schools in Rhodes, including the “Suleymaniye Madrasa” and two bilingual schools in Kos were closed down. Therefore, currently, there is no school in the Dodecanese where the Turkish children can learn their mother language.
Restrictions in the field of religion
In 1947, when the Dodecanese were attached to Greece, the Mufti of Rhodes remained in office as a religious leader. Following the death of the Mufti of Rhodes in 1961 and his successor in 1974, acting Mufti of Rhodes served until 1990, the year he died. Since then, the position of Mufti has been kept vacant. Currently, the Turkish community is even deprived of its right to elect its religious leaders.
Although the Turks of Dodecanese were exempted from the classes on religion at state schools, they are not given the right to opt for classes on Islam.
Problems regarding foundations
The Muslim Community Administration (Cemaat-i İslamiye), which represented the Turks in Rhodes had authority over the Foundations’ Administration (Evkaf İdaresi). However, with the appointment of a new President of the Foundations’ Administration, namely, Ziyaeetin Pekmezci in 1980, the Muslim Community Administration de-facto ceased to exist.
Furthermore, the Greek authorities have started to appoint a government representative to manage the foundations as of 1967, the military junta takeover. Thus, many properties owned by foundations were either donated or sold, although the sale of foundation properties was forbidden by law. It was also forbidden for the Turkish community to take part in tenders organized for selling the properties of foundations. The foundations are also subjected to high taxes. The Turkish community is not allowed to repair and restore its historical buildings and monuments.
