Interventions of Greece to the Seventh session of the Forum on Minority Issues- "Preventing and addressing violence and atrocity crimes targeted against minorities” (Geneva, 25-26 November 2014)

Greece congratulates the Special Rapporteur Ms Rita Izsak on the organization of the Forum.

We appreciate the opportunity to discuss, this year, mass violence against minorities. We hope that the Forum will identify both preventive but also post-violence measures and best practices in different areas so that deplorable violent attacks or atrocities against persons belonging to minorities can be avoided.

Although the issue of mass violence and atrocities has never regarded the Muslim Minority in Thrace, we are pleased to share with the audience some best practices and undeniable facts and numbers which contribute to social economic and political integration of the Greek Muslim citizens of Turkish, Pomak and Roma origin.     

-    the Muslim Minority has been electing MPs in almost all parliamentary elections since 1927, including three currently,
-    Minority members serve in all levels of the Greek public administration,
-    7 minority radio stations, 18 Minority newspapers and magazines contribute to a free and pluralistic press environment
-    146 primary schools and 2 secondary schools operate across Thrace with minority curriculum in Greek and Turkish. There are also two Koranic schools funded by the Greek State. Moreover, in all public schools of Thrace the teaching of the Koran has been introduced on a voluntary basis,  
-    a quota of 0,05% for admission to Universities and Higher Technical Education is reserved every year to Muslim students from Thrace,
-    there are 300 mosques offering religious services in the region of Eastern Macedonia-Thrace and roughly 370 preachers,
-    three Mufti offices offer recourse to Greek Muslims, residents of Thrace, who wish to regulate their family and property affairs according to the Islamic Law, 
-    since 2008 more than 50 Minority associations have been established   
We hope that some of these indicative measures can constitute a bright example for other regions to promote peaceful co-existence and social, economic and political integration of minorities, thus contributing to the prevention of violence escalation and mass atrocities.



7th Forum on Minority Issues – 2nd Intervention by Greece



We had previously the opportunity to present a list of positive measures that have been taken with regard to the Muslim minority in Thrace .

Here, pertinent to the draft recommendation no 15, we would like to make special reference to The new anti-racist law in our country which imposes imprisonments and fines against hate speech or activities which may result to discrimination, hatred or violence against individuals or groups of individuals defined by race, colour, religion, national descent or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability, and which, was adopted by the Greek Parliament only two months ago. Hence, let us show good faith and work towards its effectiveness in a cooperative spirit, avoiding attempts to discredit it so early on, while at the same time the Greek government is considering amendments to make the penal code stricter, stressing that our state defends legality and the rule of law and will not tolerate criminal activities perpetuating the cycle of violence.

Furthermore, insisting on educational measures playing a key role for protection of minority rights also on post conflict situations,we are pleased to mention that 1) the number of minority students attending public schools, whose courses aim at preserving their cultural and linguistic characteristics, has tripled since 1996. 2) that three quarters  of minority students attend secondary public schools. And 3) that the number of Muslim minority University students has increased eightfold since 1996. These numbers prove the undisputable renewed confidence of the minority students' families to the Greek public education system.

As far as draft recommendations 18 and 19 are concerned, We would also like to mention that the Greek government undertakes and sponsors initiatives that highlight intercultural dialogue, integration and social coherence including through EU projects. An example of such a project is the initiative to establish youth councils, with the participation and active involvement of young Christians and Muslims alike, as part of the local administration network in Thrace. Cultural events are also hosted in Thrace with the participation from neighboring countries such as Turkey ,promoting interaction with the minority. Additional steps have been taken enabling members of the Muslim minority especially women and young persons to be beneficiaries of projects cofinanced by the EU. These projects are designed for vulnerable social groups and focus on gender equality, combating xenophobia promoting equal opportunities, access to employment and into cultural dialogue.