A Legal Paradox: All Equal? All Different?
Both “Islams” coexist but have considerably different characteristics. Yet, citizenship (being a Greek citizen or alien) draws a rigid distinction, according to which immigrants (aliens) and minority Muslims (Greek citizens) have access to different rights and obligations.
Moreover, they live apart, share different ethnic and linguistic identities and confront different challenges vis-a-vis the Greek state, law and society. However, minority and immigrant Muslims are seen by Greek national ideology as outsiders to the Greek genos or race that determines the Greek nation or Hellenism.[233] Moreover, the identity issue in Thrace has remained a highly controversial issue insofar as Greek and Turkish nationalisms confront each other in the field. Symptomatic of the situation is the transfer of the diplomatic controversy, which invests the term “Turk/ Turkish” with conflict-laden ideological meaning, into the Greek courtrooms, distorting the legal content of the relevant right to association. The respective judgements of the Greek courts and the European Court of Human Rights[234] are indicative of an astonishing and persistent ideological use of law.The major dividing factor as far as the legal treatment of Muslims in Greece is concerned is the Treaty of Lausanne. The treaty places only the Muslims of Greek citizenship of Thrace under a special minority protection framework and not other minorities or Muslims outside of Thrace. Since 1923, the minority of Thrace is governed by the chapter of the Treaty of Lausanne on minority protection (art. 37-45) which creates mirror obligation for Turkey and Greece regarding non-Muslims and Muslims respectively. This legal protection system reflects once again a millet-like precept regarding the attribution of religious and linguistic rights and is put into effect via religion.
Since early on, and especially after 1964 and 1974, until the mid-1990s, minority protection suffered from Greek-Turkish antagonisms through the notorious principle of (negative) reciprocity. However, the ‘Lausanne system' survived unchanged after the new era that brought in the United Nations system for minority protection, and the post-1991 new multi-lateral minority protection system established in Europe. Thus the status of the Turkish/Muslim minority of Thrace encompasses specific minority rights regarding religious freedom and linguistic rights in parallel to the nexus of rights that (Greek) citizenship entails in the following way:a. Three muftis appointed by the government are based in Thrace. They are the religious authority in their respective region and exert special jurisdiction over Muslims on family and inheritance matters.[235] The selection of the muftis became an issue of major political importance and a field of national (Greek- Turkish) confrontation and legal controversy:[236] Today in parallel to the three government-appointed muftis, another two are elected by part of the minority and are operational in Thrace. In many cases until October 2018 the mufti's jurisdiction had become obligatory to Muslims - with no option to choose - raising a series of contradictions (see Section 4, hereinafter).
b.Minority schools offer bilingual education to Muslim students. The latter also attend Greek public school. Christian teachers teach the Greek curriculum and Muslims the Turkish curriculum. There are about 165 elementary schools, and four high schools (gymnasia/lycea). Two of them are religious seminaries (medrese). By 1997 a special quota for Muslims from Thrace to enter Greek university has been adopted, thus facilitating social integration.
c. Muslim community property (vakif/vakoufia) is administered by councils, which are not elected but appointed by the government since the times of the junta in 1967. The relevant Act 3647/2008 is not implemented.
Kzkifproperties also exist in the Dodecanese islands (both community and private),[237] placed under a special law, not linked to the Treaty of Lausanne.The members of the minority enjoy all rights safeguarded by the Constitution and the international human rights treaties in the same way as any other Greek citizen. A series of minority associations operate in Thrace (and outside Thrace). Other community organisational structures or prerogatives have been lost through time, such as the election of community councils, special quota for political representation to the parliament, or exemption from military service. A few (1-4) minority deputies from Thrace are normally elected to the Parliament as candidates of the main political parties. Muslims also participate in the elected boards of local authorities throughout Thrace. A series of newspapers and journals are published in Turkish (one in Pomak) and radio programmes are broadcast in Turkish by members of the minority. As far as places of worship are concerned, there is a sufficient number of mosques in Thrace (more than 250, and another four in the Dodecanese islands) functioning for everyday ritual needs. Muslim cemeteries also are operational in Thrace and the Dodecanese islands.
The further a Muslim goes from Thrace, the fewer special rights he/she enjoys: The Treaty of Lausanne is not applicable outside Thrace, but in addition no mosque or cemetery is available. It follows that a Muslim wedding cannot be registered outside Thrace. Therefore Muslims of Greek citizenship and migrant Muslims, as long as they live outside Thrace (and Rodos and Kos), enjoy general human rights in the same way as any other citizen, but they do not have access to the special rights nor to general rights pertaining to freedom of religion. The one and only mosque scheduled to be erected in Athens has still not been built due to technical ‘problems' that have a political and islamophobic flavour to them.[238] In Athens, Thessaloniki and some other towns, about 80 masj'its do exist and they are operated by immigrant Muslim communities mostly without official permits.
Only three worship halls have acquired an official permit (in Piraeus, Athens and Thiva). The rest of them have not applied or cannot meet the criteria required by the law. The non-availability of a Muslim cemetery outside Thrace (Rodos and Kos)[239] adds one more dimension to the bi-zonal legal framework (in/out of Thrace) that applies to Muslims in Greece.table 1 Muslims and access to rights
| Access to mosques/ cemetery | Special schools | Community properety (waqf) | SharLa law/ courts | Registration of Muslim marriage | |
| Muslims of Thrace (Greek citizens) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Muslims of Dodecanese (Greek citizens) | Y | N | Y | N | Y |
| Muslims everywhere else in Greece (Greek citizens) | Only in private prayer houses | N | N | N | N |
| Migrant Muslims | Only in private prayer houses | N | N | N | N |
| Refugee Muslims | N [very limited] | N | N | N | N |
The application of Sharita law reveals certain aspects of conflict that test the balance between minority rights and human rights.
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