Greek policy on Western Thrace thawing, but questions remain

• Turks in Western Thrace believe that their most serious problem, after the abolition of Article 19, is a proper education

By Sibel Utku / Turkish Daily News

Ankara - Greece's announcement last week that it would abolish the infamous Article 19 of its citizenship law, which was used as a means of stripping Turks of Greek citizenship, put the human rights problems in Western Thrace once more in the spotlight and raised questions over whether this thawing attitude on the part of Greece towards the Turkish Muslim minority in the region would continue.

Greek government spokesman Dimitri Reppas announced last Friday that Greece would abolish Article 19, according to which Greek citizens of non-Greek extraction lose their citizenship if they leave the country without the intention of returning. The existence of such an "intention" is decided secretly by security services, who are not required to defend their claim in open court.

Under this 43-year-old article, with the sharp scent of racism and discrimination, some 7,000 Turks have been stripped of citizenship in only the last fifteen years. All of them had made a trip to Turkey. Although the implementation of the article has recently decreased, some 1,000 people are still living in Greece without any official identity. Greece says their number is between 500 and 600.

At first glance, Reppas' announcement seemed to be the omen of a thawing approach on the part of the Greek government towards the Turkish minority in the country, however his explanation that the abolition would not be retroactive raised questions over Greece's good will.

"I don't believe that this decision of Greece is really well-intentioned. If it were so, the abolition would have been retroactive," Isik Ahmet, the widow of late Western Thracian deputy Sadik Ahmet and the chairwoman of the Friendship -- Equality -- Peace Party, told the Turkish Daily News by telephone.

Sebahattin Meric, chairman of the Solidarity Association of Western Thracian Turks in Istanbul, also expressed pessimism and dubbed the decision "a move to save the day and fend off international criticism for a while."

Since the abolition would not be retroactive, the future of the "living ghosts" is an open question. Reppas did not clarify what would happen to them, but earlier Greece had announced that it would "confer" heimatlos (stateless) identity cards and travel documents on them.

Let alone Article 19, Western Thrace's people believe Greece has subjected them to a vicious circle of discrimination, forcing them to look for a better life abroad.

Turkish sources in Western Thrace agree that the gravest problem is Greece's obstructions (including legal regulations) in the proper education of the Turkish minority despite a number of international and bilateral agreements between Greece and Turkey, stipulating that the minorities can freely open their own schools and give education in their own languages.

Currently there are only two high schools in Western Thrace where Turkish children can obtain at least a partial education in Turkish. The "lucky" students, who number around 200, are determined by a drawing, and recruitment becomes a subject of bargaining and manipulation during election time, Western Thracian sources say. The education in these two high schools is said to be more than miserable due to teachers with poor professional background and ages-old books saying that "one day man is going to step on the Moon." As a result, only 70 Turks have managed to pass the exams for Greek institutions of higher education and currently are attending them.

Given these difficulties, parents start to search for ways of educating their children in Turkey. But obtaining a proper education in Turkey does not end the problem, since the Greek government does not accept as valid the diplomas obtained in Turkey, excluding those in medicine and pharmacy, and then, the problem of unemployment emerges and forces the graduates to look for ways of working abroad.

Referring to suggestions that two more high schools be opened in Western Thrace in return for the reopening of the Greek Orthodox Seminary on Istanbul's Heybeli Island, Left Alliance deputy Mustafa Mustafa, one of the three Turkish members in the Greek Parliament, told the Turkish Daily News that the issue of education was a basic human right and could not be made the subject of bargaining and concessions. He also said that currently there were no concrete steps planned by the Greek government towards a general improvement in educational matters.

In sharp contrast to this, Michael B. Christides, minister plenipotentiary at the Greek Embassy in Ankara, told the Turkish Daily News that some important steps have been taken to integrate the minority members into the Greek educational system. According to a 1995 bill which went into force this educational year, special programs are planned to teach Greek to the Western Thracian children since their imperfect knowledge of the Greek language is one of the main obstacles for their entering university. Similar programs are considered for teachers in minority schools. In addition, "positive discrimination" is considered in the form of a minimum quota for Western Thracian candidates at university entry exams in order to give them a more substantial chance for higher education, he said, but could not give the definite percentage.

Christides also stated that the Greek government provides the minority schools with considerable financial support, adding that new primary and secondary schools were being constructed.

On the issue of invalid diplomas, Christides said that this implementation was not directed only at diplomas obtained in Turkey, but was a general application related also to diplomas obtained in other countries, and even in some private colleges in Greece.

The Turks also complain of constant discrimination regarding the issue of building and business permits, the transfer of property, the securing of bank loans and other bureaucratic procedures. Also, the problem over the election of the spiritual leader (mufti) has frequently become the subject of disputes.

Responding to these complaints, Christides said that there could be individual cases of discrimination, but the general attitude of the Greek government was a sincere approach for securing equality.

When put on the general axis of the Turco-Greek relations through the years, the problem of Western Thrace could not be assessed separately from the bilateral hostilities. The 1923 Lausanne Treaty tried to set up a balance, but fell short of easing the problems as could clearly be understood from the current state of the relationship.

Unfortunately, the Turkish Muslim minority in Greece and the Greek Orthodox minority in Turkey bore the burden of the historical animosity and became the targets of mutual retaliation whenever the relations worsened.

Turkey also was not very "welcoming" towards its citizens of Greek descent. The looting and torching of Greek houses in 1955 upon some provocation, the expulsion of thousands of Greeks from Istanbul in 1964 as retaliation for the killing of Turks in Cyprus, the disputes over the election of the head of the Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and other tensions all contributed indirectly to the deterioration of the situation in Western Thrace.

Today, the number of Greek descendants living in Turkey has fallen to 3,000, while that of the Turks in Western Thrace is around 150,000. The well-being of these people depends to a great extent on the well-being of Turco-Greek relations. Less provocation, unbiased attitudes and just a little effort to try standing in each other's shoes could create a more favorable atmosphere for both minorities.

"The motherlands use the minorities as a tool to foment animosity in the countries they live in. But the minorities, in fact, could be a bridge of friendship and mutual understanding," Christides said.

Athens has taken a step. Western Thracian people are not very optimistic due to a multitude of broken promises in the past. Ankara has adopted a wait-and-see approach. Provided that all of the parties act with prudence and tact, a glimmer of hope could emerge that at least one of the many problems on the crowded Turco-Greek agenda is taken off the table.