Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu accused Greece of not respecting the rights of the "Turkish" minority in Thrace which he said is a direct violation of the Treaty of Lausanne. Somehow Mr. Dautoglu forgets that the Treaty of Lausanne specifically talks about a "Muslim-Greek" minority and not a "Turkish" one as he noted. Davutoglu said that the numerous appeals to Greece at the International Court of Human Rights, is a clear indication that Greece is unfair to the "Turkish" minority living there. Again we want to remind Mr. Davutoglu that the "Muslim-Greek"minority in Thrace is made up mostly of the Pomak and Roma communities.
We feel obligated to refresh his memory. According to Wikipedia, the Treaty of Lausanne states the following: The treaty provides for the independence of the Republic of Turkey but also for the protection of the Greek Orthodox Christian minority in Turkey and the Muslim minority in Greece. (Source Wikipedia)
He then suspiciously referred to Article 19 of an old Greek Citizenship Code, that was in effect until 1998, and which stated that citizens that have left Greece, without ever intending to return, automatically lose their citizenship. "This is a clear example of discrimination against ethnic minorities in Greece", he added. Davutoglu then went on to say that "Turks" in Western Thrace have lost their Greek citizenship under this article. (Was he referring to the Muslim population that left Greece in the 1920s? Wikipedia reference - Most of the Christian population of Turkey and the Turkish population of Greece had already been deported under the earlier Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations signed by Greece and Turkey -Source Wikipedia-)
And he then went on to say that his country does not expect the same treatment from Greece for protecting the small minority in Istanbul, since Turkey respects human rights! Firstly, his country is OBLIGATED to protect and respect the Greek minority in Constantinopole since Turkey signed for this in the Treaty of Laussane. (As for the bit on human rights... the Turkish FM forgets about all the violations of human rights in Northern Cyprus, Smyrni, the Pontion Genocide and the slaughtering of 500,000 Greeks which lived there at one point. Yup... Turkey respects human rights alright!)
He then said something else that was shocking, but that totally confirmed our opinion about the flip-flop and unpatriotic stance of the Greek media. He said that Turkey's efforts to improve the conditions of the Greek minority in Turkey has found significant support from the Greek media. Although he refused to name which television and media channels are supporting Turkey's finger in Thrace, we can only guess he referred to some of the "greener" ones, or the ones that never make a "right" turn.
Mr. Davutoglu forgets that Turkey has been accused of directly cooperating with international human trafficking rings that help third-world immigrants to cross over into Greece illegally. The Research Institute For American Studies (RIEAS) said in one analysis that Greece has become a source country concerning the entrance of an unspecified amount of illegal immigrants, mostly from Asian and African states, that enter mainly through the Greek-Turkish borders. The article notes that his is done with the complicity or indifference of Turkish authorities despite the bilateral and international agreements that have been sealed for this matter.
"Illegal immigration is actually an asymmetrical threat aimed at destabilizing the Greek state and it is of critical interest to view it under the prism of Ankara’s stance concerning Greece’s role in the region. In simple terms Turkey uses the masses of desperate people being gathered in its territory in order to inflict great losses in the Greek economy and alter its ethnic and social profile. The latest information that have verified the above writings are videos and images depicting the Turkish Coast Guard deploring immigrants in the Greek Islands; that were shown in Greek national TV without any denial from the other side. (Read more RIEAS)
Editor's Note - The audacity of Mr. Davutoglu to charge Greece of not respecting human rights, when his country is purposely flooding Greece with Muslim nationals. We are curious... is he going to baptize them "Turkish" as well in a few years?
References
Wikipedia
RIEAS
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