Paper presented on the OSCE – ODIHR Meeting on
Human Dimensions in
Warsaw on October 18th, 2000
Mr.
Moderator,
The
Constantinopolitan Society represents over 100.000 Greek Orthodox, who
expatriated from Istanbul by Turkish coercion.
This year,
like every other year, from this desk, the violations of the Turkish State
towards the Greek minority living in Istanbul will once again be revealed.
As we all
know, Turkey is a member of the United Nations, and in addition to the Lausanne
Treaty is signatory to all treaties and accords protecting minority rights
within the framework of the OSCE; moreover, it was just recently granted
candidate status for membership of the European Union. Nevertheless Turkey
continues to disregard all international conventions, blatantly violating and
infringing these agreements despite the disclosures contained in reports
published from time to time by reliable organizations such as Human Rights Watch
and other agencies concerned with the protection of human rights. The US Senate
as well as the European Parliaments numerous resolutions which condemn illegal
actions and measures taken by the Turkish State against the Greek minority in
Istanbul is a substantial proof of what is going on at present in Turkey.
In previous
addresses we revealed the existence of a discriminatory Secret Decree in Turkey
(No. 6/3801 of 1964), banning the sale or transfer of the ownership of the
immovable belonging to Greek nationals. In fact Turkey was condemned for this
action through a specific resolution issued by the European Parliament
(Resolution No. B3-0173 & 0180 of 1994)
Today, we
want to disclose yet another ploy of the Turkish State: The existence of the
Secret Committee on Minorities (Azınlık Tali Komisyonu)
which was set up in 1972 by members of the General Directorate of Charitable
Foundations (Vakuf), the Ministry of Interior, the General Chiefs of Staff, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Turkish Secret Services (MIT). According to
a report published recently in the reputable Turkish Magazine “Aktüel” (May 2000), this committee guides and
influences the Judicial Authorities with regard to decisions taken on issues
concerning, among other things, minority properties.
A recent
example of violation of the rules of International Law, through the intervention
of this Minorities Committee, is confiscation of all properties from the still
active Greek Orphanage Foundation (despite the existence of valid title deeds)
and cancellation of the operating permit of its legally elected administration.
Another
example is seizure of the main building housing since 1902 the Greek Orphanage
on the island of Büyükada whose deeds
of possession belong to the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
A third example is the attempt to confiscate the
property of the summer nursery (Paidoupolis), situated within a Greek Monastery
on the island of Kınalıada – not to mention the dozens of other
instances in which property belonging to the Greek Community has been
confiscated. It should be pointed out that the administration bodies of the
institutions in question have been dragged through lengthy, costly and time
consuming judicial proceedings, always to no avail because of the veto imposed
by the Secret Committee on Minorities.
There are of course many other cases of lack of
impartiality on the part of the Turkish courts, in addition to those already
mentioned.
Hopeless to stress out the corruption that exists
within the Turkish administration, which allows organized crime to appropriate
Greek properties.
It is no coincidence that a paragraph referring to
the free and unhindered administration of charitable foundations (vakuf) and
places of worship of non-Muslim citizens was removed from a recent draft bill
(road map) discussed in a sub-committee of the Turkish Parliament, the purpose
of which was harmonization of the country’s legislation with the Copenhagen
criteria. It follows, therefore, that opposition to an improvement in the living
conditions of the country’s minorities operates from the higher echelons
downwards.
It is thus crystal clear that violations and
illegalities cannot be called into question by anyone – except, of course, by
the Turkish State itself which, in an attempt to justify statistics showing that
the Greek Community in Istanbul has shrunk from 120.000 in 1923 to just 2.000
people today, claims that this dwindling occurred for economic reasons.
For the umpteenth time, we appeal to all
democratically sensitive countries and all those that have been co-signatories
to texts produced from time to time by the OSCE to apply mechanisms for
monitoring the offending country in question and convince to honor its
signatures, accept equality before the law, impose legislative transparency and
Rule of Law.