EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 88/153

(2004/C 88 E/0163)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3623/03

by Ioannis Marínos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(5 December 2003)

Subject: Discriminatory policy against the Greek inhabitants of Imbros and Tenedos in Turkey

Indigenous Greeks have lived on the islands of Imbros and Tenedos for 3 000 years. These islands were ceded to Turkey in 1923 under the Treaty of Lausanne with the provision that they ‘shall enjoy a special administrative organisation composed of local elements and furnishing every guarantee for the native non-Muslim population in so far as concerns local administration and the protection of persons and property. The maintenance of order will be assured therein by a police force recruited from amongst the local population by the local administration above provided for and placed under its orders.’

According to the official Turkish census, in 1 927 there were 7 000 Greeks on Imbros and a negligible number of Turks, while on Tenedos there were 2 500 Greeks and 1 247 Turks. At the present time, there are 250 Greeks left on Imbros, while 9 000 Turkish settlers have been installed. On Tenedos, only 30 Greeks remain and the Turkish administration changed the official names of the two islands, which were thousands of years old, to ‘Gökçe Ada’ and ‘Bozca Ada’ respectively. The policy of persecution was instigated after 1955, continued in 1964 and reached its peak in 1974 when the Turkish army invaded Cyprus.

The provisions of Article 14 of the Treaty of Lausanne were never implemented by the Turkish State and Greek ceased to be taught once the six Greek elementary schools, the high school and the four nursery schools, which had 1 300 pupils and were built with funding from the Greek communities of the two islands, were expropriated by the Turkish State. The same fate was suffered by the 300 Christian churches and four monasteries which previously existed, a strategy encountered only in countries with a hard-line apartheid regime. The eradication of the Greeks of Imbros and Tenedos was completed when they were dispossessed of their property. Significantly, those who were forced to leave the two islands were stripped of their Turkish citizenship and therefore lost their property which they cannot even pass on to their descendants. It is indicative that the results of the inventory of property carried out by the Turkish Land Registry in the village of Agridia on Imbros (until recently the sole remaining all-Greek village in terms of inhabitants and property), which were announced after 23 June 2003, show that 77,18 % of the total area which belonged to the inhabitants of the village devolved to the Turkish State, while private individuals appear to possess only 22,82 %.

Are the above facts consistent with the conduct of a country which is a candidate for accession and claims that it is ‘coming into line’ with the standards applying in the Union? Will the Union be asked to restore, immediately and effectively, the right to property for all the non-Muslim population of Turkey before a date is set for the opening of preaccession negotiations?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(5 February 2004)

The Commission is aware of the situation regarding alleged human rights violations against the native Greek minority on the Aegean islands of Imvros and Tenedos to which the Honourable Member refers.

The Commission provides its assessment on the issue of the rights of minorities in Turkey in its Regular Report 2003 (1). The Commission also refers the Honourable Member to its reply to Written Question number E-3025/03 by Mr Hatzidakis (2).

(1) COM(2003) 676 final.

(2) See page 127.