US embassy cable - 04ISTANBUL1714

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 001714 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/09/2014 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, GR, TU, Istanbul 
SUBJECT: THE PLIGHT OF TURKS IN WESTERN THRACE: RED HERRING 
OR POLITICAL COVER? 
 
REF: A. ISTANBUL 1511 
 
     B. ISTANBUL 1575 
     C. ANKARA 6229 
 
Classified By: Consul General David Arnett for Reasons 1.5 (b&d) 
 
1. (sbu) Summary: There is a solid strain of Turkish opinion 
promoting the idea of "reciprocity" re dealing with the 
Ecumenical Patriarchate.  Increasingly, opinion makers and 
the GOT attempt to justify the current situation by citing 
the "mistreatment" of Turks living in Greece.  The 
Association for the Solidarity of Turks of Western Thrace 
disavows any animosity towards the small Greek community in 
Istanbul, but claims that Greece continues to: repress 
Turkish efforts to assert their ethnic identity, restrict 
their freedom to choose religious leaders, and provide 
inadequate Turkish-language educational facilities.  Although 
linking the treatment of the two minorities has no valid 
legal basis, doing so resonates with wider public opinion. 
End Summary. 
 
Turks of Western Thrace -- Red Herring?... 
------------------------------------------ 
2. (sbu) Meeting with poloff in early October, board members 
of the Association for the Solidarity of Turks of Western 
Thrace (ASTWT) outlined their positions and sought to justify 
a "siege" of the Patriarchate they carried out as far back as 
1991.  Founded in 1946 by Turks from western Thrace, ASTWT 
now has 15,000 registered members at branches in 15 cities in 
Turkey.  ASTWT uses its charitable foundations, sports clubs, 
and community centers to reach out to 64,000 Turks from 
western Thrace and their families.  ASTWT President 
Burhaneddin Hakguder disavowed all terrorism and violence, 
describing the 1991 "siege" of the Patriarchate as a peaceful 
demonstration that sought to draw attention to the Greek 
government's decision, for the first time, to reject the 
popular election of a muftu by a Turkish community in western 
Thrace (Note: Metropolitan Meliton, Secretary of the Holy 
Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, told poloff that he was 
in the building at the time and that it had certainly "felt" 
like a near-violent siege).  The Greek government continues 
to deny approval of elected muftus and insists on appointing 
its own. 
 
3. (sbu) Denying any animosity towards the Patriarch or Greek 
community here, ASTWT board members argued they are the 
victims of a "double-standard."  According to them, the Greek 
government has systematically sought to eliminate any sense 
of ethnic identity among its Turkish population.  Until 
passage of a new citizenship law in 2000, permission to open 
businesses and even obtain certain driving licenses was 
denied.  Courts continue to reject applications for 
organizations with the word "Turk" in the name; one judge 
even argued that "there are no Turks" in Greece.  Turkish 
schools are deliberately under-funded and under-staffed to 
the point where responsible parents feel compelled to send 
their children to Greek schools.  One board member claimed 
that his niece's textbook at one such school still claims, 
for example, that "some day" man will reach the moon.  Greece 
refuses to lift restrictions on the number of Turkish 
instructors who can come to Greece (currently capped at 15; 
there are well over 200 Turkish schools).  Finally, Hakguder 
claimed that until Greece was forced to revise its laws in 
1989, over 60,000 Turks were stripped of their Greek 
citizenship, often simply for leaving the country.  To this 
day those former Greek citizens have no recourse to appeal 
the decisions. 
 
... Or Political Cover? 
----------------------- 
4. (c) While condemning violent measures employed by some 
radical groups that have perpetrated attacks against the 
Patriarchate in the past, a wide range of Turkish academics, 
journalists, bureaucrats, and politicians routinely opposes 
any reforms or measures to address outstanding concerns of 
the minority religious communities on the grounds that Greece 
must also cease any such discrimination against its Turkish 
population.  The Istanbul Muftu, Mustafa Cagrici, made this 
argument at a conference on minority issues earlier this 
year.  The Acting Director for the Istanbul General 
Directorate for Foundations also made the same argument in 
meetings with poloffs.  Columnists, including former 
Motherland party Education Minister Hasan Celal Guzel, 
retired Ambassador and True Path parliamentarian Coskun 
Kirca, and former Democratic Left parliamentarian Ahmet Tan, 
among others, have all made the same connection in newspaper 
columns.  Most recently, Education Minister Celik also told 
the Ambassador there is a link between the treatment western 
Thrace's Turks and the search for a solution to permit the 
reopening of the Greek Orthodox seminary on Heybeli Island 
(Halki)(ref c). 
5. (sbu) This linkage of the Greek minority's position in 
Turkey with the plight of Turks in Greece is based on a 
debatable legal interpretation of the 1923 Treaty of 
Lausanne, which brought an end to the Turkish war of 
independence and established the Turkish Republic's modern 
borders.  Section III of the Treaty on the Protection of 
Minorities obligated Turkey to ensure freedom of religion and 
equal political and civil rights for all of its nationals. 
Article 45 at the end of Section III states that, "The rights 
conferred by the provisions of the present Section on the 
non-Moslem minorities of Turkey will be similarly conferred 
by Greece on the Moslem minority in her territory." 
 
6. (sbu) Legal interpretations aside, linking the treatment 
of the two minority populations resonates with a broad 
cross-section of Turkish public opinion.  The perception here 
that Greece continues to discriminate against its Muslim 
population has become a de facto obstacle in the resolution 
of outstanding religious freedom issues in Turkey.  Many 
Turks continue to cite the same grievances listed by the 
ASTWT above, including the right of Turks in Greece to 
appoint their own muftus, inadequate funding of Turkish 
schools, and a general desire to suppress any sense of ethnic 
identity among the population there.  Greece's failure to 
construct a mosque in Athens before this year's Summer 
Olympic Games, despite its commitments to do so, was 
regularly cited earlier this year as further proof of its 
recalcitrant attitude on this issue.  Turkish newspapers also 
recently gave prominent coverage to a November incident in 
which a Greek television crew filmed an 
"inappropriately"-dressed woman in a mosque used by Turks 
living in Greece (Note: They also reported that Greek 
prosecutors had launched an investigation). 
 
7. (c) Comment: Although we make every effort to convince 
Turks that linking the problems of the two minorities is 
counterproductive, it is an argument that appears to have 
solid traction among a large number of Turks here in 
Istanbul.  Treatment of Turks in Greece is an issue that we 
leave for Embassy Athens to address, but we assure our 
interlocutors that our Mission in Greece is every bit as 
diligent as we are in investigating and raising human rights 
violations.  For better or worse, however, the issue has 
become a de facto obstacle for progress on Halki and other 
issues relating to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. 
SMITH