Xanthi Mufti Aga: Minority Rights Continue To Be Violated In Western Thrace

XANTHI - Mehmet Emin Aga, the Mufti of Xanthi, who was elected by the Turkish minority living in Western Thrace, said on Thursday that the rights of Turkish minority continued to be violated.
Issuing a written statement, Mufti Aga said that Greece continued to violate the rights of the Turkish minority living in Western Thrace which stem from the international agreements despite its statements telling that it advances progress in the human rights field.
''The last decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is the evidence of that,'' said Aga and noted that despite certain progress recorded in Western Thrace recently, Greece does not still recognize the Muftis elected by the Turkish minority. He recalled that European Court of Human Rights found Greece guilty in the application of Komotini Mufti Ibrahim Serif against Greece.
''I invite the Greek officials to listen to the warnings of the European Court of Human Rights and to fulfill its responsibilities regarding the rights of the Turkish minority. Greece does not give the rights which it committed to recognize for the Turkish minority. The violations and attacks that target the identity, religious freedom, foundations and other minority rights of Western Thrace Turks have not ended. The facilities brought in issues of getting driving license, purchasing and selling of properties and buying of commercial license is not benevolence for the minority, but just the restoration of some of the basic rights which were not given to our people for years. Greece tries to hide behind its so-called equality policy in order to distract the attention of its EU partners on this issue,'' Aga said.
Evaluating the application of Mufti Aga against Greece, ECHR announced its decision last week and noted that the communities were free to chose their religious leaders.