The long history of Balkan relations has been marked for centuries by alternating periods of peace and sudden tumbles into the abyss of war. The terms "balkanizationâ" and "Balkan powder kegâ" faithfully reflect features of the Balkan landscape and relations between Balkan states.

Most of the disputes, struggles and multi-dimensional conflicts between the actors in this region after the late XIX. century resulted not only from the expansionist policies or territorial claims of certain states or the intervention of the Great Powers in the framework of the historical Eastern Question, but also because of the existing ethnic groups and minorities within the borders of the countries, whereby they had roots and relations in the neighboring states and their people.

As Europe underwent extraordinary changes in 1989-1990 the continent’s south eastern region –the Balkans- began once again to distinguish itself through ethnic conflicts, political turmoil and interstate disputes.

So the ethnic groups in this region played –directly or indirectly- a determining role in bilateral or multi-lateral relations between the Balkan states. Recently, after the end of the Cold War and –the collapse of the Soviet Union - the Balkans like the other parts of the world turned into a so-called "common villageâ". Everyone in this village expected to benefit from development, equality and recognition of their identity, including the ethnic groups or minorities in certain countries. The citizens of different ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic origin should be protected against any kind of racial discrimination. The states should condemn xenophobia and all kinds of manifestations based on ethnic or religious prejudice.

But in fact some ethnic groups in certain Balkan countries are being discriminated against and harassed. As an example of this problem the denial of the ethnic identities of the Moslem-Turks and the Slavo- Macedonians of Greece has been examined in this publication. This issue must be discussed for it is a dramatic case on the eve of the new millenium. The ethnic questions in Western Thrace and Aegean Macedonia are explained as follows: The historical background of Greece in brief and her treatment of people of different origin –the Turks and Macedonians in Greece- and lastly, the violation of the fundamental human rights of these two ethnic groups of Greece, respectively.

a) A short historical background of Greece and her treatment of people of different origin: Greece, a constitutional republic today, a multiparty parliamentary democracy and a member of the European Union, was founded on February the 3^rd 1830 when the three Great Powers namely Great Britain, France and Russia signed the Protocol of London and declared that a Kingdom of Greece be established.

During a nine year struggle against the Ottoman state, termed the "Turkokratiaâ", the Greeks had the opportunity to obtain the support of the Great Powers which helped them found their own state. The new small Greece had a population of less than 700,000 and its area was only about 65,000 square km. Her northern boundary was limited along the border between Arta and Volos in a east - west direction. The first king of Greece (1833 - 1863) was the young German Prince Otto (Othon) of Bavaria. The next King was George (Ghiorgo) (1864-1913) a Prince of the house of Glücksburg-Sonderburg of Denmark. After the proclamation of the constitutional system in 1844, the first political parties of Greece were formed which were the French Party, English Party and Russian Party namely Ghallikon Komma, Anglikon Komma, Rossikon Komma.

The main subject in Greek politics during that time became the Great Idea namely, the "Megali Ideaâ" for a Greater Greece. And that this goal would not be achieved at once, some steps had to be taken on the path to this Megali Idea, which was Enosis. From the very beginning of the foundation of the Greek state, the single problem of the Greek politicians was the achievement of the Megali Idea, but without any realistic vision.

For the following years, this article will attempt to shed light on some incidents, to give examples for the treatment of "non-Hellenicâ" people in the territories which were captured by the Greeks.

The Greek Kingdom was able to have a relatively homogeneous population in 1830, after the Greek Klephtes had carried out ethnic cleansing against the Turks living in Morea, the southern part of the border between Arta and Volos. W. Alison Philips reports in his monography (The War of Greek Independence, 1821-1833, New York 1897 p.48), that after the Greek revolt, they massacred the Turks in Morea and they shouted "Neither in Morea nor in the World/There would be no Turk existing had been killed anymoreâ"(Salâhi.R.Sonyel "How the Turks of the Peloponnese were Exterminated during the Greek Rebellionâ", BELLETEN, Cilt: LXII, Sayı: 233, Nisan 1998, pp.121-135.). In April 1821, more than 25,000 Turks had been killed in the region within about three weeks. Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Patras, Paleon Patron Ghermanos had given the order: "Peace for the Christians, Respect to the Consuls, Death to the Turks!â" (Thomas Gordon –History of the Greek Revolution, Edinburgh and London, 1832, p.149).

The politicians who had the same mentality in Athens continued to exist. For example Kharilaos Trikoupis, the Greek prime minister from 1882 to 1895, said word for word "When the great war breaks out, Macedonia will become Greek or Bulgarian, according to who wins. If it is taken by the Bulgarians they will make the population Slavs. And if we take it, we will make them all Greeksâ" (Kharilaos Trikoupis –History of the Greek People, vol. 14 –Athens Publishing- p.18).

Later, in the early XX. century, for example in 1907, the Greek volunteers attacked the neighboring villages inhabited by Turks, and Macedonians –who were called at that time as ‘Bulgarians’ in Ottoman official documents because they had their own church – Greeks either killed them or forced them to become Greeks. Here are some documents from Ottoman archives about the bloodshed against the "non-Hellenicâ" people in the region in 1907 (see: Appendix).

Five years later, during the Balkan Wars, the Greek troops occupied the whole of Aegean Macedonia. They killed thousands of Turks and Macedonians in the region or forced them to leave the country. After the occupation of the Aegean Macedonia, the Greeks also forced the Macedonian population to speak Greek and not Macedonian. In fact, Aegean Macedonia, constituting some 52 percent of Greater Macedonia, was seized by Greece after a military occupation, and never by any act of self-determination. That the Greek presence in Macedonia was considered by the Greeks of the time to be an occupation seems confirmed by the Decree of Occupation issued by the Greek King, Gheorgos I., on October 31^st, 1912. The decree does not speak of territories which the Greek army had ‘liberated’ or ‘regained’ – which would have implied that Greece considered them as Greek lands - but clearly speaks of "Macedonian territories occupied by the Greek armyâ". (John Shea –Macedonia and Greece, North Carolina 1997, p.105).

b) The ethnic Turks and Macedonians of Greece: From that time on the Greek oppression of the Macedonians had begun. After the occupation of Western Thrace, the Moslem-Turks had a similar fate, if not as the same as the Macedonians, thanks to the Peace Treaty of Lausanne, in 1923. Thus, the Turks in Western Thrace, who settled in this region from the beginning of the twelfth century, could remain in their homeland, in Western Thrace according to the convention of January 30^st, 1923.

But there isn’t any international document on the status of the Macedonians in Greece, except the one, about "the Protection of Minorities in Greeceâ" in the Treaty of Sèvres, which is also called "the Greek-Sèvresâ" (Greek official Gazette 331/1923 –Peri prostatias ton en Elladhi Miionotiton).

Although, these documents do not directly or particularly protect and deal with the Macedonians. Certain articles of the treaties and accords below, which Greece had signed, put Greece under the obligation of protecting people in Greece of different origins, such as those with religious, racial or cultural and linguistic differences: The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (Rom, November 1950) was signed by Greece in 1974; Protocols number 2, 3 and 5 of the International Convention for Human Rights (Strasbourg 1963, 1966) was signed by Greece in 1974; International Convention about abolishing of any kind of racial discrimination (New York 1966) was signed by Greece in 1970. The others will be also mentioned below.

c) The Violation of the Human Rights of the two ethnic groups and minorities in Greece especially for about the last ten years:

The Turks: In May 1990 The Helsinki Watch Report, compiled by Lois Whitman, Deputy Director of the Helsinki Watch, gives information about the situation of the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace. According to this report, ethnic Turks numbering between 120,000 and 130,000 speak Turkish as well as Greek and they are proud of their Turkish origin and resent Greek efforts to deny their ethnic identity. The Greek Government refers to them as "Greek Moslemsâ", or "Hellenic Moslemsâ", and flatly denies the existence of a Turkish minority in Western Thrace. The Turks in Western Thrace are loyal Greek citizens and don’t want to go to Turkey. They just want to have their origin recognised and their human rights protected.

The policy of the Greek government with regard to the Turkish minority is discriminatory, with the aim of assimilation in the long-run.

The Greek government’s obligations to protect and guarantee the rights of the Turkish minority have been stipulated in international treaties and agreements. After the signing of the Lausanne Treaty in 1923, both states, Greece and Turkey signed another protocol in December 1968 prepared by a Greek-Turkish cultural commission. Among other things, the protocol guaranteed that each country would respect the religious, ethnic and national consciousness of the Greek and Turkish minorities within its borders.

The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the above mentioned Document of Rom from 1950):

In addition to agreeing to the provisions of the Lausanne Treaty that deal directly with the rights of the Turkish minority in Greece, Greece has signed other international documents designed to protect human rights, including the European Convention for Human Rights. That convention establishes broad guarantees for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Among them are the right not be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment; the right to a fair trial by an independent, impartial tribunal; the right to freedom of religion, expression, and association; the right to receive information without interference and regardless of frontiers; the right to an effective remedy for violations of human rights; and the right to be free from discrimination because of religion, or membership in a national minority.

Helsinki Final Act:

Greece was among the countries in the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) that signed the Helsinki Final Act in 1975. Principle VII of that act provides broad guarantees for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It also requires that participating states respect the rights of national minorities within their territories to equality before the law, and to "full opportunity for the actual enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms.â"

1989 Concluding Document of the Vienna Follow-Up Meeting to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE):

The 1989 Concluding Document of the Vienna Follow -Up Meeting to the CSCE, which Greece signed, lays out the principles that guide relations between states. Among these are ensuring human rights and fundamental freedoms to everyone within a country’s territory without regard to religion or national origin. The document also ensures that no one will be discriminated against for exercising human rights and freedoms. In discussing religious freedom, it sets forth the rights of individuals to organise their own religious structures. It also ensures the rights of national minorities and declares that signatory countries will:

The document states that participating states will respect the right of everyone to leave his own country and to return to it.

Greek Violations of the Human Rights of the Turkish Minority:

In spite of the protections set forth in the Treaty of Lausanne, and in other international documents to which the government of Greece is a party, and in the Greek Constitution, the Turkish minority in Western Thrace has suffered from significant human rights abuses over the years.

Deprivation of Citizenship:

The Greek Nationality Law, No. 3370, enacted in 1955, states in Chapter B, Section VI, Article 19:

Under Article 19, ethnic Turks were been stripped of their citizenship by an administrative decree, without a hearing. According to the U.S. State Department’s 1989 Country Report, under Greek law there can be no judicial review and there is no effective right of appeal.

The total number of people who have lost their citizenship in this fashion was about 60,000. According to Nikos Papaconstantinou, the director of the Greek Press and Information Office in New York, Article 19 has not been enforced since the beginning of 1989. However there were between 20 and 30 such cases in 1989. Some of the people allegedly deprived of citizenship in 1989 were students who went abroad to study in Turkey or Germany and found when they tried to return that they had lost their citizenship and were not permitted to come back to Greece.

If an ethnic Turk is out of the country, police asked his or her neighbors if he or she will return to Greece. If the neighbors said no, police send a notice to the Minister of the Interior in Athens, who then decided whether to remove the person’s citizenship. A decision to do so was printed in the government newspaper, but the person was not notified.

In one case, S. HaliloÄŸlu, a soldier, lost his citizenship on July 21, 1989, when he was away in military service in Greek army.

In 1987, Arap HaliloÄŸlu of the village of Lambron lost his Greek nationality. HaliloÄŸlu wrote to the Minister of the Interior and received an answer saying the Ministry would examine his situation, but nothing has happened.

On one case that was described in the Athens newspaper, Rizospastis, on May 19, 1986, two "Moslem origin Greek citizensâ" from a village near Gümülcine-Komotini were refused re-entry and deported after visiting their son who was studying in Ä°stanbul.

The threat of stripping citizenship from ethnic Turks who leave the country clearly affected their freedom of movement. They were afraid to leave the country, fearing that their citizenship might be taken away. Even in 1997 and 1998 Greece continued to use Article 19 of the Citizenship Code (the Nationality Law), (U.S. Department of State, Greece Country Reports on Human Rights Practices each for 1997, and 1998 - January 30, 1998; February 26, 1999)

Denial of Ethnic Identity:

The Greek government denies the existence of a Turkish minority within its borders; government spokesmen say there are no Turks in Western Thrace. The Nomark of Ä°skeçe-Xanthi, told Helsinki Watch, "There is no Turkish minority in Western Thrace. The Lausanne Treaty speaks only of ‘the Moslems of Greece.’ The Greek Prime Minister responding to a journalist’s question in Washington, D.C., on June 18, 1990, said, "There are no Greek Turks. There are Greek Moslems in Western Thrace. This is what was foreseen by the Lausanne Treaty.â" As these examples indicate, the government refers to the ethnic Turks as "Greek Moslemsâ", or "Hellenic Moslemsâ" or "the Moslem minorityâ". It views the Turks as a religious minority, rather than as an ethnic or a national minority.

The Greek government’s practices and policies regarding the Turkish minority’s "right to call themselves Turkishâ" have changed over the years. A number of documents are showing the use of the word "Turkishâ" in official documents in the past:

Degrading Treatment:

The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms provides that individuals cannot be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment. In spite of that guarantee, the Turkish minority in Western Thrace continues to experience degrading treatment in the from of continued harassment by police:

According to the recent Report of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva in Spring 1998, we see that nothing has changed in this question. The report provides information about the situation of the Turkish minority and states that the Greek government does not acknowledge that the vast majority of Thracian Muslims identify themselves as Turks. Throughout recent decades, the Greek government has actively encouraged the so-called "Moslemâ" minority to leave Greece, their homeland. The Greek officials have frequently resorted to discriminatory measures and created a climate of insecurity.

Cultural isolation constitutes the most serious complaint made by members of the Turkish minority. Educational standards are low and most schools lack qualified staff. No member of the Turkish minority is known to be employed in any position in the region’s public administration. The Turkish pupils have to draw lots to attend the middle-schools. There are no students in Greek universities who are members of the minority.

The Greek government insists on having the right to appoint the religious leader of the Turkish minority, the Mufti. But members of the minority feel that a Christian government should not choose the spiritual leader of a Moslem community. They have therefore elected two "alternativ" muftis, in Ä°skeçe - Xanthi and in Gümülcine-Komotini. But both of these have been indicted several times for "pretense of authorityâ", for the mere use of the Mufti title. There are trials against the elected muftis of the Turkish minority in Western Thrace, which are still continuing.

The Slavo-Macedonians:

The Macedonian minority is still not recognized by the Greek government and faces various forms of harassment and discrimination. The Macedonians belong to the people in Aegean Macedonia, (today the Greek occupied Macedonia) which are the native or rather the autochtone people in this region. They speak slavo-Macedonian as well as Greek and consider themselves as Macedonians but are also Greek citizens. The harassment and discrimination against the ethnic Macedonians include restrictions on freedom of cultural expression, violations of the freedom of association, denial of entry into Greece by ethnic Macedonians and former Greek citizens living abroad. A 1982-law allowed ethnic Greek refugees to return to their motherland. But ethnic Macedonians still have no right to return. Similar incidents will be stated in the Greece Country Report on Human Rights Practices for the year 1997 released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, of the US Department of State, on January 30, 1998. In an other report, released by the Greek Helsinki Monitor in July 29, 1998, the following incidents are included:

All Macedonian associations in Greece are either forbidden from or can not organise any cultural activities. Furthermore, the visit of members of the International Organization of Macedonian Children-Refugees from the Civil War in Greece is strictly forbidden. The organization was making notification of the 50 years of their expulsion from their places of birth in Aegean Macedonia-Greece-during the period of 15-19 July 1998 with commemoration. For that occasion, as planned in the program, an organized group of participants with three buses and several cars decided to visit their places of birth in Greece. But they were denied entrance in to Greece, at the border crossing at Medzitlija-Niki, between Bitola (Manaster) and Lerin (Florina). Especially the persons with foreign passports were denied entrance into Greece mainly because of two reasons: if the place of birth on the passport is written with the Macedonian toponym, and not with the Greek one: and if the person has been registered by the competent Greek services as a well-known activist of the Organization of Children-Refugees.

The International Organization of the Children-Refugees from the Civil War in Greece consists of about 30,000 persons. Most of them are now more than 50 years old, but their families are also members and activists of this organization. Greece does not recognize the existence of a Macedonian national-ethnic minority. Their active manifestation of the Macedonian national identity in the countries where they now live -for example in Australia, Canada and in certain European countries- is considered by the Greek authorities as an enemy activity directed toward the vital interests of the Republic of Greece, whereby the list of the undesirable Macedonians is continuously being expanded. The discrimination and degrading treatment of the Macedonian activists in Greece, Christos Sidhiropoulos and Father Tsarknias are further violations of human rights of the ethnic Macedonians. Finally, one can realize that all these maltreatment and assimilation-policies of Athens paved the way maybe not to a gen-o-cide, but to a cultur-o-cide and an ethn-o-cide in Greece; and this is still going on (For further information about the recent incidents see: U.S. Department of State, Greece Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1998, February 26, 1999).