The Council of Europe's decision has "clearly showed" that the Turkish Muslim minority living in Greece's Western Thrace region has been deprived of basic human and minority rights in the field of religious freedoms, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Namik Tan stated on Monday.

Tan, in his written statement, expressed Ankara's pleasure at the the CoE's Committee of Ministers decision. Tan recalled that Greece lost in two separate cases filed by late Iskece Mufti Mehmet Emin Aga and Gumulcine Mufti Ibrahim Serif in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) this July, and added that and two cases were handled by the CoE Committee of Ministers on Dec. 6.

The spokesperson stressed that the Muslim Turkish Minority in Western Thrace are European Union citizens entitled to the EU acquis but are currently deprived of basic rights and freedoms in the field of religious freedoms, among other areas.

Stating that general measures taken by Greece after the decision of the ECHR are not properly preventing similar violations, Tan added, "The committee also urged Greek authorities to rapidly take all necessary measures to ensure that Greek courts comply with the European Court's case-law. The Turkish minority of Western Thrace's right to choose its own religious leaders is not being recognized by Greece."

http://www.abhaber.com/news_page.asp?id=3176

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I don’t understand what the big deal is for governments to respect religious rights of there minorities. Frankly, I don’t care what religion you are as long as you obey the laws of the land, pay the taxes, as well as contribute positively in the country your residing in. well that’s how it’s done in the United States.

Since the Greek minority of Turkey is not numbering more than 2-3 thousand I would do this, if I was in charge of Greece... Take the high estimate of three thousand. Mulitply that by five to get fifteen hundred. Develop a test to determine someone's level of allegiance to Greece, Islam or Ataturk. On the basis of the test all muslims in Thrace will be deported except for fifteen hundred, with only the most loyal to Greece not being deported.

When Turkey complains we will respond that we can quantify how much more tolerant we are numerically speaking as regards to them as we have allowed five times as many muslims to stay in Greece unmolested. Wheras the Greek Orthodox community of Turkey is not numbering three thousand.

Aggressive, but Greece needs to face the reality that Turkey is a not interlocutor that human rights and international law can be used with. Anyway the Lausanne Treaty is multilateral not unilateral, and this is more humane than what Turkey has done.

Ahh, yes. The POOR, POOR ethnic Turks of Greece.

In 1955 there were 100,000 ethnic Turks in Greece. Today there are 200,000.

In 1955 there were 300,000 ethnic Greeks in Turkey. Today there are 2000.

Which nation has exhibited intolerance???