Various international legal documents particularly the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), the Turkish-Greek Culture Agreement (1951), the Turkish-Greek Culture Protocol (1968) and finally the Paris Clause (1951) accepted by AGIT and the other declarations guaranteed the economic, social and cultural rights and status of the Turks in the Western Thrace. Accordingly, the Western Thrace Turks have been considered as an ethnical group, in other words a minority group in respect of the international laws. The aforesaid rights ans status were transgressed and violated and they were deprived of the human and citizenship rights as well as the minority rights and subject to pressure and discrimination. All these examples show that this group has been in the status of a minority group in sociological aspects. As stated by Louis Wirth, the human category that is the target of discriminatory and unfair treatments due to their physical or cultural characteristics composed of the isolated people who consider themselves/are considered as the subjects of collective discrimination is a minority in sociological respect. The validity of such kind of a definition about a religious or racial group in any country indicates that the relevant group does not have the same rights with the other citizens. Taking into consideration that the religious groups such as Macedonians, Albanians, Ulahs, etc. as well as the Western Thrace Turks are subject to the status of minority in sociological respect in Greece, the problem of democracy and human rights in this country can easily be determined with its terrible level.
The principal problems of the Western Thrace Turks that have become chronic with social and cultural effects towards the disorganisation, dissolution and disintegration of the social structure and that should be immediately resolved can be summarised as an outline stated below;
The following four means or methods applied in the Greek policy towards the Turkish minority should be emphasised. In brief, the Greece;
a)Directly violates the bilateral and multilateral international legal documents.
b)Annuls its by-law arrangements such as laws, decrees, rules and regulations, etc. that it has issued in accordance with the principles and meaning of the bilateral and multilateral international documents and acts in contradiction with the principles and meaning of the relevant documents through the amendments of some articles that are up to its purposes.
Applies new by-law arrangements that provide the violations and infringement in case of legal insufficiencies.
Orientates the by-law arrangements issued against the groups that campaigned in a guerilla war before and particularly in the course of the civil car (1945-1949), the Macedonians that gave a struggle for the independent Macedonia, the Ulahs that gave a struggle together with the Italians for the establishment of Ulah State in the central regions of the country and their properties and directs these arrangements towards the Turk minority.
As it is well known, 3 mufti directorates (İskeçe, Gümülcine and Dimetoka) with the status of the official representative organ of the Western Thrace Turks are occupied by the puppet muftis. The scenario related with the occupation was put on the stage pursuant to the death of Gümülcine Müfti, Hüseyin Mustafa in 1984 and İskeçe Müfti, Mustafa Hilmi in 1990. Taking into consideration the resulting situations, the minority organs in both İskeçe and Gümülcine applied for an election in the mosques in accordance with the principles and spirit of the article numbered 2345/1920. The motion for the proposal of Mehmet Emin Ağa as the İskeçe mufti and İbrahim Şerif as Gümülcine mufti was submitted to the approval of the competent authorities. But on the contrary, Mehmet Emin Şinikoğlu and Meço Cemali known as puppet muftis were commissioned for both the positions.
As we have expressed above, the State of Greece has applied for this right of unfair possession over the mufti directorates that are known as the most important institutions of the minority. In due course, Greece annulled the Law on the Election of Muftis and the Chief Mufti and the Management of Foundation Revenues pertaining to Islam Communities numbered 2345/1920. Instead of this Law, Greece issued the Decree with the Force of Law that arranged the Principles of the Foundation of Mufti Directorate and the Schools of Theology numbered 182/1991.
The mufti problem that occurred on the contrary to the will of minorities can be considered as definite evidence for the new arrangement numbered 182/1991 has not been in compliance with the principles and spirit of the international legal documents that guarantee the rights and status of the minority. This situation also observed for the other problems of the Turkish minority was almost prohibited by the Article 37, the most vital article of the Treaty of Lausanne in the section of the protection of minorities. When it is adapted for Greece, it can be clearly observed that this country has the liability stated below.
to be continued