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| Egemen Bagis - Credit defencenet |
"We will not treat the Greek minority (in Turkey), like the Greeks do to the 'Turks' in Greece. And I wonder... why have they not constructed a mosque in Athens yet?"
And if that wasn't enough he boldly took it to the extreme by saying that Ankara wants Greece to establish an Islamic Theological School in exchange for reopening the the Theological School or Halki Seminary in Halki. (!)
We want to refresh Mr. Bagis' memory by reminding him that the School in Halki was forced to close down by the Turkish government and ts closure constitutes a breach of Article 40 of the Lausanne Treaty and Article 24 of the Turkish Constitution which both guarantee religious freedom and education. Their provisions are also embodied in Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights and therefore the closure of the Halki Seminary can only be viewed as an illegal abuse of human rights and a violation of democracy and international law. Also, he should brush up on his information since the Muslim community in Western Thrace is not Turkish, but made up of various Greek-Roma, Greek-Pomak and Greek-Muslim minorities.
Now we are convinced that Turkey is up to something. In less than 24 hours two of its prized ministers (and mud slinging champions) have sent "warnings" to Greece.
Unfortunately ... they are counting their chickens before they hatch.
During his time as Minister of National Defence under the Caretaker government, Minister Frangos Frangoulis began working on a psychological "confinement" zone plan that is aimed at minimizing extremist minority elements in the area. The plan sees the creation of military centers in areas where the Turkish Consulate and Turkish secret intelligence services (MIT) have shown particular interest and "activity".
More exactly, Frangoulis is planning to upgrade the center for the advanced training of Hellenic special forces in the mountainous area of Xanthi (or specifically in Glafki). When completed, the center will complement a similar military facility in Santa Rhodope (or right in the "heart" of the Muslim minority areas) which was constructed by Frangos Frangoulis himself when he served as the General of the Greek Armed Forces.
As noted by a local resident in this region of Rhodope: "They (meaning the extremists and various suspicious agents from the Turkish consulate), are not intimidated easily and rather only respect the military uniform and the army. "The majority of Muslims are law-abiding when they see the Greek army next to them," the resident added. (And they should.)
Editor - And then they wonder why we really like this Frangos Frangoulis... the man is a PATRIOT! We really hope Newly elected prime minister Antonis Samaras keeps him at this Ministry. He is the ideal man for the job. We have read on various blogs that he might be appointed to head the Greek secret services but none of this has yet to be confirmed. In any which way, Frangos Frangoulis is an ASSET and he should be part of the newly formed government at either post. As for the Islamic theological school ... no comment it is almost too ridiculous to even address.
(Read more about what Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said by clicking here)
Reference to the above information from - defencenet