Loránt Vincze: Turkey still has a lot to do for its minorities

“There are only a few autochthonous minorities in Europe that could say their numbers have not decreased during the last century. Some states had no remorse in using a wide range of tools to wipe out the minorities living on their territory; considering them foreign bodies that needed to be eliminated. Now it is our turn to stop and reverse this inheritance of the 20^th century and stop the assimilation process by protecting Europe’s languages and cultural diversity” – said FUEN president Loránt Vincze in Athens last Saturday, at a conference on minority rights organized by the Ecumenical Federation of Constantinopolitans. 

Mr Vincze participated at the minority rights conference on the invitation of Prof. Nikolaos Ouzounoglou, the president of the Ecumenical Federation of Constantinopolitans, together with Ms Petra Roter, Interim Chair of the Council of Europe Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.

Loránt Vincze stated: ”Some countries in South-Eastern Europe still have problems facing history and facts, as well as difficulties with democracy and the rule of law. Unfortunately, Turkey is among these countries, denying the Armenian genocide, and avoiding dialogue with the Kurdish minority. Turkey also needs to put in place a problem-solving mechanism to address the demands of the Greek-Orthodox community.” According to the president of the FUEN, the Government of Turkey should review and implement the rightful claims of the Constantinopolitans: restoring citizenship and restoration of property rights and sign the European Language Charter and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities as soon as possible.

Mr Vincze stressed that Greece also refuses to meet European minority protection standards, by not recognizing the Turkish ethnic minority in Western Thrace. He recalled the recent case of Mr Mustafa Kaymakçı, president of the Turks from Rhodes, Kos and the Dodecanese, a member organization of the FUEN, who was arrested and kept under detention one night in Kos (İstanköy) and later was expelled from Greece and prohibited to re-enter the country on the grounds that he poses a threat to the public order.

Addressing both Turkey and Greece, the FUEN president outlined that invoking reciprocity as a ground to deprive a community of its rights is the wrong approach. Instead, states should learn more about the European good examples. He encouraged the Greek and Turkish minority organizations to join forces and address their problems together under the umbrella of the FUEN: “The two minority groups should exploit their roles as bridges of dialogue in the bilateral relations between Turkey and Greece. Both Turkey and Greece should understand that they are causing damage to their own people living outside the country if they do not respect and support the minorities living on their own territories” – said Loránt Vincze at the minority rights conference in Athens.

At the turn of the 20^th century nearly 200,000 Greek Orthodox lived in Istanbul, formerly known as Constantinople. After the end of the First World War, the Turkish state began to formulate its position on minorities and in 1923 the Treaty of Lausanne was signed. According to the Treaty, the Greek inhabitants of Constantinople should not have been included in the population exchange with Greece. Yet, the Greeks of Turkey were exposed to a series of atrocities during the 20^th century. A new law adopted in June 1932 prohibited them from the exercise of 20 professions. This resulted in the forced expatriation of 13,000 people holding Greek citizenship. Later, the 5-7 September 1955 Pogrom in Istanbul killed over a dozen Greeks and ousted thousands. The Greek-Turkish conflict in Cyprus (1963) caused the deportation of another 12,000 Greek citizens. In successive waves, 95 percent of the Greek-Orthodox community left Turkey, losing their citizenship, families and community properties. Today they live primarily in Greece (80%) while others are dispersed over many other countries, with only about 5% still living in Istanbul. The conference in Athens was organized around the anniversary of the anti-Greek pogrom of September 1955, which took place in Istanbul. (picture: pappaspost.com)