Imvros and Tenedos are two small islands in Northern Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey, strategically located outside the Straits of the Dardanelles, the only communication between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. In 1923, after the end of a war between Greece and Turkey, the two countries signed the Treaty of Lausanne, which, among other things, provided for the handing over of these two islands to Turkey, even though at that time they were under the control of Greece and their population had always been exclusively Greek. The reason for such provision was purely geopolitical, i.e. to secure control of the Straits by Turkey. In exchange the Treaty (article 14 and articles 37-44 of the 3rd section) provided for a special administrative status of the islands that guaranteed protection of life and property, free use of the native language (Greek), religious freedom, and generally all human rights. These articles of the Treaty were considered "Basic Laws", which, it was agreed, Turkey would have no right to abrogate through any other law, regulation or administrative act.
Seventy years have passed since the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne. There was information in the Turkish press that Turkey is preparing to celebrate that occasion. It would be appropriate then to see how Turkey "honored" its signature regarding these two islands.
The same concern pertains as to how the provisions of the Treaty about the Greek community of Constantinople (Istanbul) were violated by Turkey, but this should become the subject of another discussion. In any case, we believe that the following should be known by all people concerned with human rights and rights of minorities, about the condition of the native population in these two islands.
- (1) In September of 1923, immediately after the islands were handed over to Turkey, article 14 was violated by the appointment of a Turkish governor instead of a governor from the local Greek population, as the Treaty clearly provided for. In violation of the same article, control of the police, courts, customs, and port authorities, came under the Turks.
- (2) Sixty four lawyers, doctors, teachers, and merchants were characterized as "collaborators of the (previous) Greek regime" and proclaimed "undesirables". An additional 1500 persons were denied return to their homes because they had abandoned the islands before September 1923 (a violation of the 15th protocol regarding amnesty, attached to the Treaty).
- (3) In 1927 a new law was voted in the Turkish Parliament (Law 1151), that made official the previous administrative measures, despite the statements in the Treaty that no law could override its provisions.
- (4) During World War II, a property tax (the notorious Varlik kanunu ) was imposed, which called for taxes arbitrarily fixed at many times above the total worth of the property of the islanders, in an obvious attempt to financially ruin the population (violation of articles 39 and 40).
- (5) At the same time, real estate properties of Christian monasteries, which offered sustenance to many families, were confiscated and given to ethnic Turks brought over from the eastern parts of Turkey; very quickly these newcomers leveled down the churches and other buildings of the monasteries in violation of articles 38, 39, 40, and 42 of the Treaty.
- (6) Men of the islands between the ages of 20-40 were at that time conscripted in the Turkish Army and sent to the infamous "labor battalions" (amele taburu), where they were subjected to forced labor in the harsh winter conditions of the mountains of Eastern Turkey and Kurdistan (violation of articles 39 and 40).
- (7) The bishop of the islands and the leaders of the local communities were arrested and exiled to Anatolia (eastern Turkey), thus leaving the local population leaderless (violation of articles 38, 39 and 40).
- (8) In 1964 the Turkish authorities confiscated the school buildings of the local community (kindergarten, grammar school and high school) together with their furniture, libraries and teaching equipment. The teachers were fired and were not even allowed to get a job in the minority schools in Constantinople. Teaching the Greek language was not allowed even at home and the Greek children were forced to learn only Turkish (violation of articles 38, 39, 40, 41 and 42).
- (9) In 1964 the Turkish Parliament voted Law 6830 "on land expropriation" , that according to its Article 5 gave the right to the "designated civil authorities to expropriate land, without being limited by any previous legal arrangements, and to adjust the amount of compensation according to their own subjective judgment". Eventually about 98% of all fertile and arable land was expropriated at prices equivalent to the worth of a basket of eggs in the local market, thus having been confiscated for all intents and purposes. In 1964 about 6,150 acres of arable land was owned by the Greek inhabitants of the islands. In 1990, after all these virtual confiscations only 16 acres were left in their hands. On top of that, pastures, that traditionally had been used for sheep grazing, were characterized as "forested" or "about to be reforested" state lands, on which the local people no longer had the right to bring their flocks. Thus the people, mostly farmers and shepherds, were deprived of their farms, olive groves, vineyards, orchards and pastures. Next to these measures, the few remaining water sources next to the villages were diverted toward army barracks or state-owned farms taking away from the locals even the ability to cultivate the little gardens in their yards. And, finally, together with the land, the authorities confiscated any farmhouses and any other installations in the farming areas, and prohibited even the passage of the former owners through those areas (violation of articles 38, 39, 40 and 42).
In order to further terrorize the local population, the following also took place:
- (10) "Open farm prisons" (agir ceza) were created on Imvros, where some of the worst inmates from other prisons of the country were transferred. These criminals were allowed to freely roam the island, terrorize, loot, rape and murder the people of the islands (violation of articles 38, 39, 40 and 42).
- (11) An army regiment was moved to the islands and the soldiers were allowed to destroy farmhouses and country chapels, to rob, beat, rape and murder local people. Military outposts were installed within inhabited areas and did the same things there (violation of articles 38, 39, 40, 42).
- (12) A teachers' college/boarding house was founded for 800 students transferred there from mainland Turkey; the main "teaching courses" had to do with terrorizing the local population and raping local women (violation of articles 38, 39 and 42).
- (13) Out of 262 country chapels of Imvros, 248 were desecrated and looted and are now used as stables, army outposts, warehouses and latrines, or were demolished and the building materials used to make army barracks and prisons.
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The historical cathedral in the village of Kastro (dated from the 16th century) was put on fire and its ruins are now used as a stable. The people of the island were not allowed to repair the cathedral even at their own expense (violations of articles 38, 40, 42 of the Treaty).
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(14) On the night of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus (July 1974) all the inhabitants of the village of Kastro were forced to abandon their houses. Then the cemetery of the village was desecrated and the bones of the dead were scattered into the ravine next to the village (violation of articles 38, 39, 40 42).
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(15) The Imvrians and Tenedians that lived abroad were stripped of their Turkish citizenship, thus losing their "civil rights" and the ability to return to their ancestral homes (violation of articles 38, 39, 40).
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(16) Soon this officially tolerated terror reached the point of murders of local people. In September 1973 freely wandering prison inmates assassinated Stelios Kavalleros, a merchant from the village of Panaghia. His mutilated body was found by his neighbors in the bottom of a well.
In the summer of 1977, Styliani Zouni, a mother of two young children, was raped and then murdered by a Turkish soldier in the village of Aghioi Theodoroi.
In July of 1980, George Viglis from the village of Schinoudi was tortured and murdered by prison inmates in his farmhouse.
In 1983 two more Imvrians, Eustratios Stylianides and Nicholas Ladas were assassinated by settlers from mainland Turkey, the former in the village of Schinoudi and the latter in the village of Panaghia.
In November of 1990 Zaphiris Deliconstantis, the mayor of the village of Glyky, was assassinated by a Turkish immigrant.
Of all these assassins none has been arrested or convicted so far (violation of articles 38, 39, 40).
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(17) The ethnic composition of the islands' population was forcibly altered through the mandatory settling of ethnic Turks from the mainland. Such people were brought to the islands, were given state subsidies, and were housed in complexes built specifically for them, or in the houses of Greeks forcibly taken away from their previous owners. The lands and property confiscated from the Greek native population were also handed out to these settlers (violations of articles 14, 39, 40).
As a consequence of all these and other acts of commission or omission by the Government of the Turkish Republic, the Greek Imvrians and Tenedians were forced to desert their hearths, where their ancestors had lived for more than 3,000 years, and to scatter as refugees all over the world. In 1960, according to the official census there were 5,487 Greeks and 289 Turks in Imvros. Today there are 300 Greeks and 7,900 Turks on that island. Less than 50 Greeks remain in Tenedos.
Source:http://www.hri.org/docs/inter/93-10-06.doc.html
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1. The Parliamentary Assembly notes that Turkey has embarked on a series of reforms with a view to starting accession negotiations with the European Union;
2. The Parliamentary Assembly notes that the core of reforms concerns respect for an observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Turkey. However, it notes also that these reforms have not been fully implemented.
3. The Parliamentary Assembly expresses its growing concern on the plight of the Greek Minority in Imvros (Gokçeada) and Tenedos (Bozçaada).
4. It recalls that, according to Article 14 of the Treaty of Lausanne, both islands “should enjoy a special administrative organisation composed of local elements and furnishing every guarantee for the native non-Muslim population insofar as concerns local administration and the protection of persons and property”. This clause has never been implemented. Besides, the members of the Greek minority are still denied their right to be taught in their own language and to reopen their schools.
5. According to the latest information received, the Greek minority on both islands is still faced with serious problems regarding the property rights of its members as well as those of their religious foundations.
6. The process of establishing new land registries on both islands has not been based on fair and transparent rules, i.e. the old (Ottoman) title deeds have not been translated into the Latin alphabet as in the rest of Turkey. The result is the confiscation of properties, including churches, belonging for decades, even centuries, to the Greek minority, without possibility of recourse.
7. The property rights on non-Turkish citizens are not recognised by the authorities and, therefore, the younger generations cannot inherit the land and the houses of their fathers.
8. Furthermore, the Turkish authorities have assigned large parts of both islands (around 80% of the total surface of Imvros) to fall within the scope of the Law “On the preservation of Cultural and Natural Wealth” (No. 2863/1983, as amended by Law 5226/2004) and, therefore, summarily decreed them as “property of the state”, such confiscation done without recourse or compensation for owners.
9. The Parliamentary Assembly draws attention to the necessity of legislative amendments and administrative reforms in the fields of minority protection and freedom of religion.
10. Requests the Turkish authorities to fully implement already adopted measures in good faith.
11. Requests Turkey to fully comply with European standards on minority protection and freedom of religion.
12. Urges the Turkish Government to look into the matter in order to find an acceptable solution, restituting the properties of the Greek minority and addressing the needs of the people on the two islands.
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Signed
TOROSYAN, Tigran, Armenia, EDG
CHRISTODOULIDES, Doros, Cyprus, UEL
COX, Thomas, United Kingdom, SOC
DENDIAS, Nikolaos, Greece, EPP/CD
GROSS, Andreas, Switzerland, SOC
GUBERT, Renzo, Italy, EPP/CD
KATSELI, Eleonora, Greece, SOC
NESSA, Pasquale, Italy, EPP/CD
NIKOLOPOULOS, Nikolaos, Greece, EPP/CD
PANGALOS, Theodoros, Greece, SOC
PAPADIMITRIOU, Elsa, Greece, EPP/CD
PERICLEOUS PAPADOPOULOS, Antigoni, Cyprus, LDR
RIGONI, Andrea, Italy, EPP/CD
RUSTAMYAN, Armen, Armenia, SOC
SKARBØVIK, Elsa, Norway, EPP/CD
TOSHEV, Latchezar, Bulgaria, EPP/CD
VARVITSIOTIS, Miltiadis, Greece, EPP/CD
VIS, Rudolf, United Kingdom, SOC
VRETTOS, Konstantinos, Greece, SOC
WILKINSON, John, United Kingdom, EDG
ZAPFL-HELBLING, Rosmarie, Switzerland, EPP/C |
SOC Socialist Group
EPP/CD Group of the European People’s Party
LDR Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group
EDG European Democratic Group
UEL Group of the Unified European Left
NR not registered in a group |
