From: sera@zuma.UUCP (Serdar Argic)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast,talk.politics.soviet,soc.culture.greek,soc.culture.europe,soc.rights.human
Subject: The plight of ethnic Turks in Greece.
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 16:00:09 GMT


In article <Bu4Kvy.Mw7@news.cso.uiuc.edu> ptg2351@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Panos Tamamidis ) writes

>  See for example the role of Mr. Sadik;(he is their representative in the 
>  Greek parliament.) He lives most of his time in Turkey; instead, he could

Let us see - shall we?

Dr. Sadik Ahmet, Turkish Ethnic Member of Greek Parliament, Visits US

Washington DC, July 7- Doctor Sadik Ahmet, one of the two ethnic
Turkish members of the Greek parliament visited US on june 24 through
July 5th and held meetings with human rights organizations and
high-level US officials in Washington DC and New York.

At his press conference at the National Press Club in Washington DC,
Sadik Ahmet explained the plight of ethnic Turks in Greece and stated
six demands from Greek government.

Ahmet said "our only hope in Greece is the pressure generated from
Western capitals for insisting that Greece respects the human rights.
What we are having done to ethnic Turks in Greece is exactly the same
as South African Apartheid." He added: "What we are facing is pure
Greek hatred and racial discrimination."

Spelling out the demands of the Turkish ethnic community in Greece
he said "We want the restoration of Greek citizenship of 544 ethnic
Turks. Their citizenship was revoked by using the excuse that this
people have stayed out of Greece for too long. They are Greek citizens
and are residing in Greece, even one of them is actively serving in
the Greek army. Besides, other non-Turkish citizens of Greece are
not subject to this kind of interpretation at an extent that many of
Greek-Americans have Greek citizenship and they permanently live in
the United States."

"We want guarantee for Turkish minority's equal rights. We want Greek
government to accept the Turkish minority and grant us our civil rights.
Our people are waiting since 25 years to get driving licenses. The Greek
government is not granting building permits to Turks for renovating
our buildings or building new ones. If your name is Turkish, you are
not hired to the government offices."

"Furthermore, we want Greek government to give us equal opportunity
in business. They do not grant licenses so we can participate in the
economic life of Greece. In my case, they denied me a medical license
necessary for practicing surgery in Greek hospitals despite the fact
that I have finished a Greek medical school and followed all the
necessary steps in my career."

"We want freedom of expression for ethnic Turks. We are not allowed
to call ourselves Turks. I myself have been subject of a number of
law suits and even have been imprisoned just because I called myself
a Turk."

"We also want Greek government to provide freedom of religion."

In separate interview with The Turkish Times, Dr. Sadik Ahmet stated
that the conditions of ethnic Turks are deplorable and in the eyes of
Greek laws, ethnic Greeks are more equal than ethnic Turks. As an example,
he said there are about 20,000 telephone subscribers in Selanik (Thessaloniki)
and only about 800 of them are Turks. That is not because Turks do not
want to have telephone services at their home and businesses. He said
that Greek government changed the election law just to keep him out
of the parliament as an independent representative and they stated
this fact openly to him. While there is no minimum qualification
requirement for parties in terms of receiving at least 3% of the votes,
they imposed this requirement for the independent parties, including
the Turkish candidates.

Ahmet was born in a small village at Gumulcine (Komotini), Greece 1947.
He earned his medical degree at University of Thessaloniki in 1974.
he served in the Greek military as an infantryman.

In 1985 he got involved with community affairs for the first time
by collecting 15,000 signatures to protest the unjust implementation
of laws against ethnic Turks. In 1986, he was arrested by the police
for collecting signatures.

Serdar Argic

                     'This war quickly developed into one of extermination. 
                      We closed the roads and mountain passes that might 
                      serve as ways of escape for the Tartars [Turks] and 
                      then proceeded in the work of extermination.'
                                                       (Ohanus Appressian)