Statement from BTTDD on reciprocity

In its statement, BTTDD said, "It will never be possible to accept practices that will ignore reciprocity in Lausanne."

Western Thrace Turks Solidarity Association (BTDDD) made a statement about reciprocity in the Treaty of Lausanne. They stated that the works to be done on the foundations were carefully followed.

The statement is as follows:

“It will never be possible for the Western Thrace Turkish Minority to accept the practices that will ignore the reciprocity in Lausanne. We are closely following the work to be done on Foundations in Turkey. It should not be forgotten that the implementation of reciprocity is the protection of the rights of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority, which is guaranteed without ignoring the mutual gain in minority rights”.

General President Necmettin Hüseyin's statement is as follows:

With the 1923 Lausanne Peace Treaty, the Turkish community of Western Thrace was granted the status of "minority".

Articles 37 to 44 of the Treaty of Lausanne contain regulations regarding the rights of non-Muslim Minorities in Turkey.

Article 45 states that these rights granted by Turkey to non-Muslim Minorities are also recognized by Greece to the Muslim Minority in its territory.

From the perspective of the Western Thrace Turks' enjoyment of minority rights, the practices of the Greek administrations have gradually discredited our institutions since the 1960s. The policy of gradual regression and then complete destruction of the system is clearly visible. For example, our kinsmen have been removed from foundation administrations since 1967. Since the 1970s, the use of the adjective "Turk" has begun to be defined as a crime. In the 1980s, minority non-governmental organizations with the adjective "Turkish" were outlawed. A discriminatory law against Western Thrace foundations was adopted.

With the law numbered 2345/1920, Greece brings some regulations regarding the legal structures of foundations.
In this framework, it is decided that foundations for educational purposes will be managed by Community Administrative Committees and foundations for religious purposes by Board of Trustees.

However, with the regulation made in 1945, the management of all foundations was left to the Community Administrative Committees. When the Junta Administration took office in 1967; Article 40 of the Lausanne Treaty has been violated. Article 40 states: (To establish, manage and supervise all kinds of charitable, religious, and social institutions, schools, at the expense of the Muslim minority in Greece.) The state dismissed the Komotini and Xanthi Turkish Community Foundations Administrative Committees, which came to power through elections and appointed people who served their own purposes to these committees. Today, the boards of directors of all minority foundations in Western Thrace are determined by appointments made by the Greek authorities. Although there are institutions that can reflect the free will of the Western Thrace Turkish society at the highest level, the opportunity to choose is not given. 

Although the Western Thrace Turkish Minority wants the foundations to be elected and managed by the Muslim Turkish community living in the region on the basis of the rights recognized in the treaties, the Greek state does not accept this demand of the Turkish minority and continues to appoint administrators to the foundations.

Due to the high income and real estate taxes accrued to the foundations, which the minority has not had a say in the management since 1967, the foundation properties were put under mortgage due to tax debts. Foundations are still under pressure due to debts arising from the past.

The deprivation of the right of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority to manage their foundations also negatively affects the efforts to protect their cultural assets. There are many Ottoman historical monuments and mosques in Greece. However, over time, many works could not survive because the necessary maintenance and repairs were not made. The common cultural heritage is not properly protected in Greece.

In Turkey, with the regulation in 2008, it was decided to return the immovable registered in the 1936 Declaration and transferred to the General Directorate of Treasury and Foundations after 1974.

In addition, by adding a temporary article to the Law on Foundations No. 5737, the return of all pending properties and historical cemeteries of Community Foundations was opened. With the arrangements made in 2011, studies were carried out for immovable properties that were acquired later and passed to third parties. However, even the number of assets of Western Thrace Turkish foundations, whose right to acquire property in Greece, is not known. In Western Thrace, foundation properties were either expropriated or demolished.

Today, Muslim Turkish Foundations do not have the right to acquire immovable property in Greece.

However, according to the statistical information put forward in Lausanne, 84% of the immovable properties in Western Thrace belong to the Turks. Today, only 25-30% of immovable properties belong to Turks.

The fact that Turkey is expanding the rights of minorities day by day by ignoring the reciprocity living in its own territory encourages Greece even more in terms of increasing pressure on the Turks of Western Thrace and violating their rights.

It should not be forgotten that asking for reciprocity does not restrict the freedom or citizenship rights of individuals in the Republic of Turkey.

To apply the principles of reciprocity in positive discrimination for the implementation of reciprocity is the protection of the rights of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority, which is guaranteed without ignoring the mutual gain in minority rights.

For this reason, changes to be made in the current regulations and regulations by ignoring the situation of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority will not have a response in the public's conscience and will not be acceptable for the Western Thrace Turkish Minority.

What needs to be done should be based on reciprocity in the Law on Foundations that Turkey will make in order to fulfill the legal rights of the Western Thrace Turks recognized by Greece in bilateral and international agreements.

It is to follow the path of applying exactly the same practices to foundations made by Greece in Western Thrace to Greek Minority foundations in Turkey.”