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Mr. Moderator, Ladies and Gentleman,
When back in 1998 I was given the opportunity to address this assembly I
expressed regret that I had to complain before this forum about the
human rights practices of my country. Today I have to repeat the same
complaint and again with regret voice my strong objection to the human
rights
practices being applied in
my country, the Republic of Greece, and have to
say that no improvement has
been noticed in this period of two years.
The
existence of national minorities is still not recognised in the
Republic of Greece. The Turkish minority is recognised only as
religious minority, while the Macedonian national minority is not
recognised as an existing entity.
Although
national minorities are not recognized, their members are persecuted
on national minority basis.
The
State allows, sometimes even encourages the mass media, the Church
authorities and the para-state institutions to be against the members
of the national minorities (the Turkish and the Macedonian) in order
to terrorize and politically discredit them.
A
policy of assimilation and discrimination of the Macedonian ethnic
minority is under way by legislative measures and court prosecutions.
The public use of the Macedonian language and alphabet is proxibited,
as well as their use in the educational system.
Court
prosecutions are undertaken against the members of the two national
minorities, concerning activities in connection with the manifestation
and protection of the national cultural identity.
Four
members of «OURANIO TOXO - VINOZHITO» political organisation
representing the Macedonian ethnic minority in Greece (including this
speaker) are being prosecuted for exhibiting a bilingual sign (in
Greek and Macedonian) at the entrance to their offices in 1995. The
Public Prosecutor has charged them with “disturbing public order”
and “for having incited discord among citizens through the
use of the Macedonian language in their sign”. In compliance to a policy denying the existence of the Macedonian
language.
The Macedonian ethnicity has been prohibited from establishing a cultural
association (The Home of Macedonian Culture), through which they
endeavoured to foster their culture.
Although this was conducive to the filing of charges against
Greece at the European Court for Human Rights, all the same Greek
citizens members of the Macedonian minority were recently prohibited
from establishing a cultural association under the name «ROUSELI»
according to the decision of the local court in the region of
Koufalovo or Koufalia in the municipality of Solun or Thessaloniki.
In addition to the aforementioned measures, ethnic cleansing of the
Macedonian minority is done in another perfidies manner, by taking
away the citizenship in a way provided for by the article 20 of the
Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Greece.
Many Macedonians who have gone abroad to work have become victims of this
discriminatory policy. Greek authorities in the Ministry of Internal
Affairs are using the Law of Citizenship against the Macedonian
national minority of Greece. Article
20, Paragraph 1g, states, among other things:
"…may
lose their citizenship, a Greek citizen who is abroad and works or is
active against the national interests of Greece…"
Greek
authorities use this article exclusively against the Macedonian
population, focusing on those Macedonians who are identified as
expressing their Macedonian identity culture and language by
participating in Macedonian associations. This is especially true for
Macedonians in the United States, Canada and Australia.
Greek
authorities, through their embassies and consulates in foreign
countries, inform the Greek Ministry of Internal Affairs about the
activities of Macedonians who are citizens of Greece. They even spy on
Macedonians in order to identify those who visit or participate in any
Macedonian cultural events or groups.
The
Ministry of Internal Affairs works in collaboration with the Council
of Citizenship to determine who shall be deprived of their Greek
citizenship. Once such a decision has been made it is printed in the
government journal and at
the same time local officials at the victim's home municipality where
are informed. Upon receipt of this document the municipal leader
orders the community council to delete the former citizen from their
registration records. Parallel to that the border stations are
informed that the victim is placed the so called inadmissible list.
This
discriminatory policy of the Greek state is presented in the last
report of the ECRI Commission (European Commission against Racism and
Intolerance) of the Council of Europe as well as in reports from the
US Dept. of State.
In addition to above issues it is now evident that selective immigration
is done in the regions of Western Thrace and Macedonia were the
Turkish and Macedonian minority lives in order to create a new wave of
hate and towards the national minorities and the majority. At the same
time the repatriation of the Macedonian political refugees left Greece
during the civil war in 1949 is prohibited.
We
demand the indispensable recognition of the two national minorities,
and all other national minorities that seek recognition, the abolition
of all aforementioned measures by which discrimination is done, and
the stopping of all court prosecutions. We demand the introduction of
measures whereby the consequences of the executed policy against the
national minorities be removed, in accordance with the international
norms and the European Framework Convection for the Rights of National
Minorities which Greece has already signed in 1997.
Mr. Moderator,
A
request from our organization is that experts from international and
European institutions, as OSCE, make a scholarly research on the
rights of national minorities in the Balkan countries and prepare a
comparative study on the situation of the national minorities.
We
appeal to the Greek gorvement for starting a dialog with the members
of the Macedonian national minority of Greece according to the
European Framework Convection for the Rights of the National
Minorities which is unfortunately not yet ratified by the Greek parliament.
Thank
you all for your attention.
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