THESSALONIKI: GREECE IMPLEMENTING PROMISED MEASURES FOR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 THESSALONIKI 000024

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/SE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM PGOV SOCI GR TU
SUBJECT: THESSALONIKI: GREECE IMPLEMENTING PROMISED MEASURES FOR
TURKISH MINORITY, BUT KEY ISSUES (MUFTIS AND SELF-IDENTIFICATION)
REMAIN UNRESOLVED

REF: A. 07 THESSALONIKI 019; B. THESSALONIKI 12

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1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The Greek Government continues to
implement several measures it announced in February 2007 (Ref A)
aimed at addressing concerns of the Turkophone Muslim minority
in Thrace, northeastern Greece. While the GoG has made
progress in hiring imams and cancelling taxes on Muslim
charitable foundations, Turkophone Muslims complain that little
has been done to meet their key demands such as better
education, the right to choose muftis and to self-identify as
Turkish. Recent EU, UN and COE reports urging the GoG to
address these issues, coupled with multiple European Court of
Human Rights rulings against Greece, could provide some impetus
for progress. Domestic politics, however, will limit the GoG's
ability to take any steps that might appear as unreciprocated
concessions to Turkey. END SUMMARY

SLOW PROGRESS ON MUSLIM RIGHTS MEASURES ANNOUNCED IN 2007


2. (SBU) The Greek Government continues to implement
measures it announced in February 2007 (Ref A) aimed at
addressing concerns of the Turkophone Muslim minority in Thrace
(northeastern Greece). The following is an update on the status
of key minority concerns, based on recent Post contacts and a
March 18 visit to Thrace by Greek Desk Officer Adam Scarlatelli
and ConGen staff, which included meetings with former New
Democracy (ruling party) MP and lawyer Ilhan Ahmed, Turkophone
Muslim journalist Cemil Kapsa and Thrace-based MFA Director of
Political Affairs, Ambassador Alexandros Alexandris. [Note:
Ahmed and Kapsa both visited the U.S., in 2005 and 2007
respectively, as part of International Visitor Programs on Young
Muslim Leaders. End Note]

-- CANCELLATION OF DEBT OWED BY WAKFS (Muslim religious
foundations): In March 2007, Parliament voted to cancel tax
debts owed by wakfs, estimated at about 12m . However, the tax
authorities in Thrace have still not received instructions from
the Ministry of Finance to proceed with implementation of the
measure. According to former ND MP Ilhan Ahmed, this was
because by law, a processing fee amounting to 3.6 percent of the
amount of debt owed (approximately 400,000 ) had to be paid to
the state first. In most cases, the wakfs could not afford to
pay that amount and so the issue of the debt forgiveness
remained unresolved. Based on negotiations that concluded
recently, the Ministry of Finance has decided to make an
exception and to waive the fee. Mr. Ahmed believes that once
this obstacle is removed, implementation of the law will occur
immediately.

-- EDUCATION: The GoG promised in February 2007 to improve
education for the Muslim minority, including creating "second
chance" schools that would allow adults to obtain high school
diplomas. Local contacts report that there are six such
schools, with over 400 adult participants. Minority primary
schools (which offer bilingual education in Greek and Turkish)
are "adequate," according to journalist and Muslim activist
Cemil Kapsa, but other Muslims complain that the quality of
instruction is far below that of mainstream public schools.
Kapsa stressed the need for more minority secondary schools,
since the two existing are ones over-crowded and of inferior
quality. Also, since pre-school education became compulsory in
2008, Kapsa has called on the GoG to introduce minority
kindergartens with instruction mostly in Turkish and some Greek.
The GoG is reportedly considering establishing bilingual
kindergartens offering Turkish, Pomak or Romani, depending on
student needs. The Turkish government, through its consulate in
Komotini, Thrace, is reportedly funding a variety of informal
schools for Turkophone Muslims, including Turkish language
kindergartens and religious schools. The GoG opposes Turkey's
role as politically-inspired meddling in Greek domestic affairs.
Under a 1968 agreement, Greece and Turkey exchange a small
number of teachers for their respective minorities. As the
number of Greeks in Istanbul has dwindled, Greece has sent fewer
teachers. Since the 1970s Greece has also sought a reduction in
the number of teachers sent by Turkey, arguing for reciprocity
and also for allowing local Turkophone Greeks to fill minority
teaching positions.

-- MUSLIM QUOTA IN CIVIL SERVICE: The GoG undertook in February
2007 to create a Muslim quota for Greece's highly coveted civil
service positions, similar to the 0.5 percent quota already in
place for Muslims in Greek universities. (Note: Muslims are
approximately 1.0 percent of the population.) The GoG has not
yet passed a law for implementing such a quota. MFA Political
Affairs Director for Thrace Ambassador Alexandris stated that
the measure is being implemented de facto, with the first
appointments having taken place in September 2008. He was
unable to provide specific data, other than the hiring of seven
Muslims as professional soldiers in the Greek Army, as well as a

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group of recently hired Muslim forest rangers. The GoG has also
hired 183 imams as religious teachers (see below). It is
unclear how the GoG plans to fill 0.5 percent of Greece's large
public sector workforce with Muslims.

--HIRING OF 240 IMAMS: The government committed itself in
February 2007 to hire 240 imams to assist in the religious
education of the Muslim minority in Thrace, paid by the state as
public servants, in the same manner as Greek Orthodox priests.
According to the MFA's Alexandris, the GoG hired 183 imams in
January 2009 and they received their first state pay checks in
March 2009. The Ministry of Education & Religion had identified
240 candidates, but only 183 met the educational requirements
stipulated by law, e. g. a primary education certificate.
Muslims are divided over the desirability of the measure. While
former MP Ahmed called it "brave", Mr. Kapsa argued that the
minority opposes imams being GoG employees appointed by
Christians and would prefer the imams to be paid by the Muslim
community, from revenues generated by the wakfs. The GoG, he
said, should pay imams only in cases when the community lacks
funds.

--"STATELESS" MUSLIMS": The GoG promised in February 2007 to
re-instate citizenship for the remaining stateless persons in
Thrace who lost Greek citizenship under a provision in the Greek
Constitution (repealed in 1998) that deprived thousands of
ethnic Turks of Greeks of citizenship. The MFA's Alexandris
claimed that very few cases are outstanding and that all
applications are being processed "efficiently". He was not
aware of a backlog of applications, though he acknowledged some
stateless people may not have applied for re-instatement of
citizenship due to the high cost of the fee (around 1,500) (Ref
B). Muslim activists claim the number of stateless people
seeking reinstatement is 350-500.

NO PROGRESS ON KEY DEMANDS: MUFTIS AND SELF-IDENTIFICATION


3. (SBU) The GoG continues to resist two key demands of the
Turkophone Muslim minority: the right to choose their muftis
and the right to self-identify as Turks. (Note: Thrace Muslims
chose their muftis, in consultation with government authorities,
until 1985, when the GoG assumed full control over the
appointments. End Note). The MFA's February 2007 initiative
did not address either demand. The GoG argues that since
muftis exercise judicial authority (deciding family and civil
matters in accordance with Shari'a law),they must be appointed
by the state. Consequently, there exist two sets of muftis, the
official muftis appointed and paid by the GoG, and the
unofficial muftis elected by male members of the Muslim
community and paid by the local community. After several ECHR
rulings that criticized Greece's treatment of the unofficial
muftis, as well as reports in the past few months by the EU and
UN minority and human rights experts (see para 6 below),the MFA
is reportedly reviewing the matter. According to GoG contacts,
the MFA has consulted with academic experts on possible
solutions, including a proposal to allow Muslims to appoint
muftis provided that muftis no longer exercise judicial
authority.


4. (SBU) Many GoG officials view the movement to elect
independent muftis as part of a Turkish strategy to gain control
over Thrace's 150,000 Muslims and possibly to reclaim Thrace
itself one day. Visits by senior Turkish officials to Thrace,
increased Turkish investment in Thrace, and perceived Turkish
meddling in local politics have fueled such suspicions. Turkey
reportedly pays the salaries of the unofficial muftis (called
"pseudo-muftis" by their detractors) as well as many imams and
religious teachers in Thrace, through its consulate. Unofficial
muftis have been quoted in the media making politically
provocative statements such as "Thrace is part of Turkey."
Greek diplomats also argue that Turkish government statements on
behalf of Thrace Turks, on muftis and other minority issues, are
an attempt to gain leverage in other disputes with Greece,
including with regard to Halki Seminary, the Ecumenical
Patriarchate and Greek minority in Istanbul. Greece rejects
such linkages.


5. (SBU) The GoG is particularly sensitive to pressure from
Turkey and others to allow Turkophone Muslims the right to
identify themselves collectively as "Turkish." Greece contends
that since the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne mentions only one
minority, Muslims, no other group in Thrace can call itself a
minority. Furthermore, most Greeks consider any suggestion that
there is a Turkish minority in Thrace as provocative and linked
to perceived Turkish designs on Thrace. Greece refuses to
recognize and has even prosecuted NGOs that use the word
"Turkish" in their names. The European Court of Human Rights
ruled in March 2008 that such prosecution violated the groups'

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right to freedom of association. Greece appealed the decision
and lost, but has not altered its policy. While the government
recognizes the right of individuals to self-identify, it
continues to consider groups such as the Turkish Union of Xanthi
and Turkish Consultative Council as hostile to the Greek state
and refuses to accord them NGO status. The issue of ethnic
identity has divided the Thrace Muslim population. For example,
Slavic speaking Muslims (Pomaks) complain they are pressured by
ethnic Turks to declare themselves Turkish. Officially, the
Greek government recognizes just one Muslim minority but states
that there are Pomak, Roma, and Turkophone "communities" within
that minority.

COULD EU, COE AND UN CRITICISM OF GOG PROVIDE IMPETUS FOR CHANGE?


6. (SBU) Recent EU and UN reports have criticized several
aspects of the GoG's treatment of the Thrace Muslim minority. A
February 19, 2009 report by Europe's Commissioner for Human
Rights Thomas Hammarberg on "Human Rights of Minorities" in
Greece (based on a December 2008 visit) recommended that Greece
open a dialogue with Muslims on the establishment of direct
election of muftis coupled with the withdrawal of their judicial
authority. Hammarberg also expressed concern about Greek
restrictions on the Turkophone minority's freedom of
association. He criticized Greece's refusal to comply with ECHR
decisions supporting the minority's right of
self-identification, which had, inter alia, created additional
work for the Court in the form of repeated cases against Greece.
Additionally, on March 24, the Committee on Legal Affairs of
the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)
called on both Greece and Turkey to recognize the "freedom of
ethnic self-identification." A February 18, 2009 report by UN
Independent Expert on Minority issues in Greece by Gay McDougall
(based on a September 2008 visit) similarly criticized Greece's
refusal to recognize Thrace Muslims' "Turkish" ethnicity.
McDougall called Greece's interpretation of the term "minority"
as too restrictive, and urged compliance with "the post-1945
legal framework of modern human rights treaties." She condemned
the government appointment of muftis as an infringement on
freedom of religion, and stated that the muftis "should be
chosen by their religious communities." Like Hammarberg, she
favored restricting the authority of muftis to "religious duties
that do not infringe fundamental rights."


7. (SBU) COMMENT: The GoG has refused to allow Turkish
minority self-identification and election of muftis because both
issues are strongly identified with perceived Turkish
interference in Thrace affairs. The steady accumulation of
ECHR rulings against Greece's treatment of the Muslim minority,
combined with recent highly publicized EU, UN and COE criticism,
offers Greece a small face-saving opportunity to resolve
long-standing points of contention with Thrace Muslims, i.e.
under the political cover of UN and EU recommendations. The
MFA has taken note of increased U.S. and international scrutiny
of Greece's treatment of its Muslim minority, and seems to be
reviewing proposed solutions. The GoG is unlikely, however, to
adopt any new measures that could be cast by the resurgent
opposition as concessions to Turkey. A significant gesture by
Turkey toward its Greek minority would create an opening for
reciprocal steps, but Greece will reject any formal linkage.
Greece insists for example that Turkey is obliged to address
longstanding Greek minority concerns in the context of its
European aspirations (not as a trade-off with Greece),and that
Thrace Muslim rights issues are not on the bilateral agenda.
Post will continue to encourage the GoG to implement the 2007
initiatives, ECHR decisions and other measures that will
strengthen minority rights in accordance with European
conventions and treaties as well as its stated goal of being a
European model for the treatment of minorities.
YEE