MİLLET's Opinion | Western Thrace Turks waiting for justice
Although Turkey's fair attitude towards non-Muslim minorities is ignored by the western world, it is not possible for them to ignore some facts.
Those who try to give lessons on human and minority rights to Turkey at every opportunity, once again, gave the best response to the ceremony in Maçka. In the Sumela Monastery, Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomeos conducted the ritual freely. In fact, the Patriarch even sent a thank you message to the state of the Republic of Turkey.
Only this?
Dozens of churches not repaired? Yes, it was repaired from the state budget.
Were the priests not granted Turkish citizenship in order to provide the necessary councilors for the election of the party? Yes it was taken.
Are New Year ceremonies organized by the Patriarchate in Istanbul? Yes it is organized.
Is the Gökçeada Greek school, which has several children, repaired and kept open? Yes it is held!
Does it hold and conduct Patriarchal rites in Orthodox churches in various provinces of Turkey, especially in Izmir? Yes, he is managing.
But the Western Thrace Turks, who are the counterpart of the Greeks of Istanbul according to international agreements, continue to suffer.
If we try to list the problems experienced, the pages are not enough!
Bartholomeos conveyed his thanks to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy for their presence at the Sümela Monastery and said, “Let these lands be an example and the surrounding countries be inspired.”
Turks in Western Thrace "When will Greece be inspired by the positive developments in Turkey? When will justice come to these lands?" are quarreling against the situation in Turkey that non-Muslim minorities there live comfortably and it is provided by the state.
Turkey shows maximum effort to ensure that non-Muslim communities left on their lands with official minority status pursuant to the Treaty of Lausanne can benefit from all kinds of minority and citizenship rights. In fact, it is known from the statements of President Erdoğan of Turkey that he tried to be a facilitator by granting rights above the rights granted by Lausanne and the constitution. Restoration of Sümela Monastery and allowing rituals there are examples of this.
While the situation in Turkey is improving day by day in favor of the non-Muslim minorities, the situation of the Muslim Turkish Minority, who were left in the Western Thrace region of Greece in return for them, is getting worse day by day.
Greece continues to violate the Treaty of Lausanne, the European Convention on Human Rights and International Law.
Western Thrace Turks are treated as second and third class citizens. Private and autonomous religious, educational, charitable, and social institutions and associations are banned or nationalized by confiscation.
The Turks of Western Thrace, whose basic human rights and freedoms have been trampled on with an understanding that is incompatible with democracy, are waiting for justice!