No freedom of religion in Turkey...

As Turkey is trying to convince the world in general and the EU in particular, about their religious freedom, below you will find an article about the intolerance the Turkish state imposed on non Suni Muslims and other religions. This is not an act of the AKP party but institutionalized the last 60 years.
While Turkish citizens are crying that there is no place to worship in Europe, Turkish people over there knows better: their Mosques and school are funded with government money. Even cultural centre's are established for a better understanding.

The ignorance or arrogance of some Turkish people is astonishing.
The article below is from here


"In Turkey, the freedom in need of expansion is freedom of religion. While each of the issues that is currently on the agenda is a priority issue, each also touches on a broader question which remains off the agenda: freedom of religion and belief in Turkey itself.

A significant problem facing religious groups in Turkey is the nation’s biased religious registration laws. Registration is required for religious leaders and institutions to serve the spiritual needs of their constituents.
Currently, the Sunni branch of Islam is the only “state-sanctioned” form of religion.
The Alevi Islamic Community is not recognized as a separate religious group and is instead considered to be a de-facto group within Sunni Islam. This lack of distinct recognition severely limits their ability to form their own houses of worship and leaves them suspect to the laws of the state that pertain to Sunnis.
The Shi’a community is not recognized as a separate legal entity either.
The Armenian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, and Jewish communities are recognized as having “a special legal minority status.” However, this only applies to the individuals within these communities and not to their religious institutions, which severely hinders the ability of these groups to perform a wide range of functions necessary to maintaining and serving the needs of their respective adherents.

All other religious groups, including the Roman Catholic Church, mainline Protestant and Evangelical groups, have no official legal status within the Republic of Turkey.

Religious education is another significantly contentious religious freedom issue in Turkey.
There are two aspects of religious education that are particularly troublesome: the first is that Turkey requires a majority of its population to take state-mandated religious education classes; the second problem is the current restrictions that religious groups face in properly educating their clergy. Turkey currently requires all Muslims in the country, regardless of their sectarian affiliation, to partake in religious education classes.
Minority religious groups are exempted from these religious classes. The Alevis, and other Turkish Muslim minority groups, claim that these classes teach only the Sunni form of Islam that advances religious beliefs that are in conflict with their own religious teachings. These groups also complain that many of these mandatory classes actually demean and dismiss their beliefs.
Many other minority religious communities in Turkey face serious problems in educating their believers.
In 1971, the Turkish government closed all university-level religious schools, both Muslim and Christian.
There are numerous restrictions in place that hinder the ability of these institutions to reopen their doors, such as a requirement that all students be Turkish citizens, a very serious problem for Greek Orthodox clergy.
The government argues that these restrictions are necessary to prevent radical Islamic groups from opening their own religious schools that could spread a violent and extremist form of Islam.
These restrictions disproportionately burden the nation’s religious minorities.

The Greek Orthodox population has fallen to approximately 3000 people over the past several decades. They do not have a large enough population to maintain the primary Greek Orthodox seminary in Turkey – the Halki Monastery. Halki Monastery was among those university-level religious institutions closed by the government, and it faces numerous restrictions to reopening.

The Turkish Government will currently not allow any foreign students to be educated at Halki. Without foreign students, there are not enough Turkish Greek Orthodox seminarians to maintain an official seminary. In addition, due to legal restrictions mentioned above, this Monastery cannot call upon foreign seminarians to travel to Turkey to train the students of the Monastery.
In approximately a generation, the Greek Orthodox population will no longer have the capacity to train new theological leaders. Furthermore, due to legal restrictions that any religious leader in Turkey must be a citizen and be educated in Turkey, within a few years there will be no one that is eligible to be the new Patriarch of Constantinople. As a result, this religious group will have no way of practicing its faith or continuing its traditions. Without the ability to practice their faith or continue their traditions, the Greek Orthodox community will slowly disappear to the pages of history. The continued closure of Halki threatens the very survival of Turkey’s ancient Greek Orthodox minority and the “primus inter pares” of Orthodoxy, the Patriarch of Constantinople.
Turkey’s Greek Orthodox community is a victim of a silent genocide as their population, religion, and way of life are eroded over the years by actions taken by the Turkish government.

The Government periodically meddles in the internal functioning of religious communities. The Higher Court of Appeals recently ruled in favor of the Government in a dispute over the Greek Orthodox Patriarch.
The government refused to recognize the use of the term “ecumenical” in reference to the Patriarch. This means that the Turkish government refuses to recognize the Patriarch as leader of anything more than the country’s small Greek Orthodox community, in contrast with the esteemed position that the Patriarch holds amongst other Orthodox communities worldwide.
As the government only allows Turkish citizens to be members of the Orthodox Church hierarchy, this condition places a great strain on such a small population.

Another cause for concern in Turkey is the recent string of attacks against Christians. In January 2007, a protestant church in Samsun was severely vandalized. In April, three workers at a Bible house in the city of Malatya were viciously murdered. The victims’ throats were slashed, and a fourth person inside the building was attempted to escape by jumping out of a window and was severely wounded. It is imperative that the international community pressure Turkey into prosecuting those responsible to the fullest extent of the law.

Every community of faith needs the freedom to practice their religion without worrying about either themselves or their religious institutions being physically harmed."

How brain dead you can be...

Here is our friend, Ali Kulebi. Again with an article for which he would be prosecuted under several international laws for inciting hate, giving false information and providing fake statements to provoke war. But the guy seems to be a hero for some Turks. And for sure, he hates everything which is not 'Turkic':

Today the primary and the particular threat for Turkey is not the Middle Eastern or Near Eastern countries where our brothers live but it is Greece, which aims to weaken us by every means and supports the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and which overcharges us at every international platform, and makes alliances with our neighboring countries against us. It is absolutely clear that if Greece believes that it has reached our military power at one day, it would certainly attack Turkey without any question.

That he can write this statements freely in Turkish Daily News, shows how mature this newspaper is. But at the same time, how immature he is.

My dear friend Erkan wrote on his blog that I am biased against Turkey-EU. Yep, I became since Turkey is biased about everything which has to do with the EU, USA, in fact the whole world...'Give up your arms' and 'Make Peace not War'...would be an proper strategy for Turkish foreign policy.

Here Ali his points.

Day Opnening - 28 November

Acropolis, Athens, Greece.

New co blogger

Soon, Seda Han Doukas, a dear friend of mine, will join us here as co blogger.
She is born and raised in Turkey but moved last year to Thessaloniki, Greece, where she married Thomas Doukas, a great friend! Picture of Seda is made couple of months ago.

What's in a name

So who am I? I mean deep down... My first name (or Christian name as we would say in Australia) is Vassili, which is Greek and derives from the word King. (Did you know that the herb Basil is the King of herbs?) But then we come to my surname, Hatzidakis. What many might not know is that it is a Turkish derivative. My grandfather was actually a refugee from Asia Minor, and was born and raised in a little village outside Smyrna (Izmir) called Sevdiki. When he arrived his surname was in some dispute but among the survivors it was agreed that he was a Hatzidakis.

So why is it Turkish? Well it's not Greek... some have told me that the Hatz is a sort of bastardisation of the word Hadji - a title given to pilgrims who have visited Mecca and the -akis is a diminutive, in other words it means 'little pilgrim'. Others have told me that Hatzis is the Greek form for the Ghazi - who were the warriors of Islam. Who knows for sure, records and memories are a blank as to this history.

But in part it epitomises some of the problems with Greek-Turkish relations. Greece won its independence from a largely Turkish controlled Ottoman empire. Following this Greece tried to instill a 'Greek Idea' into its citizens to try to unify this new nation. Despite this however, there are still signs around to remind us that once our destiny was not ours to decide. These signs are in the land registry laws, Ottoman title deeds put forward by the church to claim land, the power structures whereby certain politicians and rich land owners can trace their wealth to Pasha's and tax collectors, and then in our very surnames. Even Greece's Prime Minister, Karamanlis, has Turkish sounding name. Karamanlides is the name given to the Turkish speaking Greek Orthodox people of Cappadocia.

While such similarities could be reason for close relations, in an excessively nationalistic environment, they are also the reason for tense relations. And for this reason perhaps Greek-Turkish relations need to be slow and steady, giving both sides time to adjust as they dispel myths and come to terms with a history which is still raw.

Day opening - October 12

Sirtaki dance, Greece

Shop names in Turkish?

This is another ridiculous piece of legislation: all shop names must be renamed in Turkish in Bodrum. To protect the Turkish language....
I don't know how they will translate the BodyShop, McDonalds, Tesco, Reebok Store, Swarovski store etc. into Turkish.
Are the SHELL shop, BP shop, Total shop, still allowed? And what about Carrefour?
What about all the discos, hotels, restaurants?
Why not re-brand Bodrum as a city into Halicarnassus..)) That would be fun..

Time to take a stand

Things are slowly starting to return to normal following the recent Greek elections. As predicted the governing party New Democracy was returned to power and newcomers LA.O.S entered parliament, where they quickly offered their support to ND in electing the house speaker.
While everyone has been talking about why the losers lost, gone virtually unnoticed is the effect these elections have had on ND.

Problems with primary school text book.

For over a year the government had been backing a new primary school book which did not continue old nation building myths (common to many countries and which could be said fanatacised children) and education by repetition. Instead, the schoolbook (funded by the EU) was in line with a pan European education system that encouraged free thought and constructive criticism (and peaceful relations with its neighbours). The book was widely criticised by the pseudo-nationalist elements in Greece, such as LA.O.S and the Church. During the election the education minister lost her seat. Despite winning the election overall the government has instead listened to its racist elements in its party such as Nomarch of Thessaloniki, Mr Psomiades, the bishop of Thessaloniki and LA.O.S, and withdrawn the schoolbook and sent it to be pulped.

The only people protesting this is the small left wing party SYRIZA. They are the only ones in the media protesting the involvement of the church in dictating the education of our children. Meanwhile the foreign minister Dora Bakogianni is talking about the environment.
Not to denigrate green issues, but, if she wants to better relations with Turkey she, and not the small parties, should be at the forefront of defending the schoolbook, in the same way the former minister did. Because sometimes we have to do what is best for the country and not what ensures our re-election.

Day opening - October 3

Greek musician, playing the Gaida Dance.

A notorious liar

By calling the people who made a video with his latest hit as 'The ones who made it have no character. It’s not suitable with my character and beliefs', he is a real joker. Okay, take away the video, and listen to his song only. A song where he implicitly is telling that people like the murdered Hrant Dink have to watch out.

In an interview with Today's Zaman he explicitly said: “I desired to attract attention to the games being played with the Black Sea region. I have similar songs in my other recordings. This one is misinterpreted. I received a lot of congratulatory messages from the public after my recording was released a week ago.”

Türüt claimed that Greece and Russia have designs on the Turkish Black Sea region and plans to divide the country and that’s what concerns him.
This shows exactly his paranoid mind.

Read here the full article.

The same old rhetoric

Here is 'my man' again: Ali Külebi. With a bunch of allegations, and rhetoric as if he is member of some kind of Politburo. His columns are always great fun for me, simply because he is using a style and language which is so anachronistic. Like Vassili wrote in his posting of today on his blog, about the good old communists, Turkey has them as well...like Ali Külebi.
Read his article here.

A tale of two racists

In March 1996, a new politician entered the Australian political scene, her name, Pauline Hanson. Her entry into Federal politics shook the political landscape and she quickly became a person to be reviled for her racist attitudes. She declared that Australia was in danger of being "Swamped by Asians", Aboriginals who suffer from extreme poverty and tragic health problems (Australia a first world country - receives assistance from UN bureaus as if it were a third world country to deal with these conditions), also came under attack from her.
People quickly divided into those who hated her and those who loved her.

For me, her appearance was a welcome one. For years politicians from both sides of the fence would allude similar comments, nothing as overt as Pauline, but still racist. Now for the first time I could say "YOU'RE ALL LIARS, Racism exists and here is the proof." Unfortunately the discussion about racism revolved around her, so when she lost her political seat, everyone showed it as proof that Australians weren't racist.

The truth is more complex. The governing Liberal party quietly adopted most of her policies and actually implemented them. When destitute refugees tried to enter Australia, the Prime Minister John Howard actually said that the refugees were drowning their children to get sympathy so they could enter Australia. He halted the policy of engagement with Asia, which only now is changing thanks to the economic boom of China. But he still sees Australia as the White Western civilised force in Asia. As a result we saw the recent race riots in Sydney and anyone 'foreign' looking, especially middle eastern looking is in danger of being beaten up, being abused in school or the workplace.

Now in Greece I am seeing a repetition. Karatzaferis of the LAOS party looks like he will enter parliament. LAOS is based on racist attitudes, though they are not automatically self evident. To the public he will announce "It is shameful the way Greece treats refugees, they should be treated with more dignity and services need to be put into place to assist them". Now if that's all I heard, I would vote for him. Tune in however to his television channel where he talks to the faithful and he adds something else. "Since we can't treat them with dignity, we can't accept them into the country, let's do what the Netherlands is doing and discuss a cap on immigration"
Listen a bit more and one realises a bigger truth. During the live debate he quoted the Greek Foreign Affairs minister Dora Bakoyianni when she said that the fires were caused by foreigners who do not love Greece. Karatzaferis added, "If this is true then steps need to be taken".

Yes he is a racist, but one person is not the embodiment of all racism. Other people have sown the seeds and extreme racists are just following the logical path that others set. Dora's comments were just as racist, but because she does not belong to LAOS, an 'extreme' right wing party, she can make these comments without scrutiny. Other racist elements also exist in the governing New Democracy party of Greece. The Nomarch of Thessaloniki, Mr Psomiadis, (do I have to give more publicity to this clown?) made a huge issue of the fact that children whose background were not Greek were holding the Greek flag during school parades. He and the rest of the ND party also criticised PASOK for having a Greek-Turkish Muslim on their ballot during the last local elections.

Greece should use LAOS for its own benefit. Now is the time to analyse racism in ALL its forms, and should not do what Australia did and label just one person as racist. Because the fact that extreme racists exist - means that 'moderate' racists have been gaining ground. And isn't moderate racists a stupid word. Racism is racism, there is no Extreme racism - that's only the word used by racists who want to look more civilised, but there is nothing civilised about any of this.

Caring for the Environment: A rich man's cause?

It looks as though close neighbours Turkey and Greece share a lot more in common than great beaches, zither music and late nights. It appears that they are both placing care for the environment in the back seat of priorities. A recent study regarding forests in both Greece and Turkey shows that:
"As in all Mediterranean coastal areas dense human population, extensive settlements, and agricultural activities have largely destroyed the natural habitat. Urbanization, conversion to agriculture, overgrazing and illegal logging are the principal causes of destruction."
(Read article here)
It's no secret that the economies of both countries are hugely dependent on the Tourism industry. I would unscientifically deduce that therefore there is also a correlation between the destruction of one for the perceived benefit of the other.

In speaking to locals here in Greece, there is an attitude that it's OK for me to say things like 'respect the environment' because I was raised in Australia, a wealthy country that could afford to look after the environment. But Greece is too poor to afford to look after the environment and that people's needs, creating employment and money must take precedence over trees etc.

Sustainable development - development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Advocates a middle road for development where the environment is not sacrificed on the altar of economic growth. That growth can occur that respects both people and the environment. This has been around for a long time and received prominence in the 1980s. Most EU countries now have a Sustainable development policy and is seriously discussed at the community level.

Croatia is on the receiving end of a boom in environmental tourism. Tourists are paying big bucks to flock to see untouched beaches and forests surrounded by traditional buildings. Greece is suffering the effects of cheap drunken package tours who behave worse that soccer hooligans and leave little money in the local economy.

Both Greece and Turkey however, lag far behind their neighbours in this respect.
Why is this so?
Don't either countries respect their environment? I don't think so. I believe it's more a matter about leadership, which has obviously been missing. It takes leadership to look at the big picture, to sacrifice the easy short term gains in exchange for greater benefits for all in the future. There are also the power structures in place now that benefit from the current situation. They play a big role in the political process. It's no surprise that where democracy is stronger and corruption weakest, the environment takes a more prominent role in the people's minds and in the political process.
Perhaps the best thing the average consumer can do is to choose to holiday at some of the few destination spots that show consideration for the environment. They exist in both Greece and Turkey. This way we reward good behaviour and punish those who destroy every one's inheritance, the environment.

Australia lends a hand to Greece

The fires in Greece have made a huge impact across the world. On Monday the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard announced that the Government of Australia will offer $3 million in assistance. Governments are also responding at a state level with the government South Australia sending money and perhaps more importantly sending bushfire experts to help fight the fire.

As was highlighted by Panagiotis, many Greeks are turning their attentions to solutions and what to do now. In this spirit, now is the time for the Greek administration to accept help and not try to reinvent the wheel. Best practice in fire fighting techniques from Australia, the US, well wherever it exists should be adopted. The knowledge is out there, now is not the time for ego to get in the way.

A question from Greece

Panagiotis VASSILIADIS - pv.linkedin@gmail.com
wrote:

Fires in Greece! -

What can be done to prevent this in the future with modern technology?
Dear all, I am a Greek national and deeply hurt from the actual situation of my home country. I am fed up just complaining about the situation and do nothing about it. This is why me and some other friends are forming a group of people who is interested in working as a consulting body to our public administration and influence the development of our country’s infrastructure in this domain.
Therefore, I would like to ask your opinion in terms of technological solutions for monitoring and preventing forest fires (from cameras, to water bombing etc...) Any expert in the topic who is willing to help on this is welcome to contact me. Thanks all for your help and I hope no other country suffers the same distraction that Greece is actually going through.

Regards,

Panos Vassiliadis

Turkey in action

Turkey helps Greece 48 hours after disaster strikes

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

DUYGU GÜVENÇ, ANKARA – Turkish Daily News

Turkey announced yesterday that it is sending a firefighting plane to Greece to contribute to its neighbor's struggle against the raging forest fires, which have already killed more than 60 people.

The government's decision follows a series of criticisms leveled at Turkey's inaction to the raging fires in Greece despite the solidarity shown between the neighboring countries during the 1999 earthquakes that hit both countries.

“Turkey is ready to send a firefighting plane. We are waiting for your permission to take off,” said Forestry Minister Osman Pepe in a message to his Greek counterpart Evangelos Basiakos yesterday. In reply, Basiakos welcomed Turkey's offer to help and officially requested the aircraft. Minister Pepe then instructed that the four-and-a-half ton water carrying JL 215 firefighting aircraft, Turkey's top firefighting aircraft, to be sent to Greece.
Full article here.

A deafening Turkish silence as Greece burns

Looks like Turkish pride is again a big obstacle....

For a good update visit Vassilio's blog.

A deafening Turkish silence as Greece burns
Monday, August 27, 2007


DUYGU GÜVENÇ
ANKARA – Turkish Daily News

As nearby Greece continued yesterday to face walls of flame killing scores in the country's worst series of forest fires in history, aid from across the Aegean was largely symbolic despite a legacy of mutual assistance borne of the 1999 Turkish earthquake to which Athens was the first responder.
“Turkey is missing the chance of solidarity with Greece due to internal politics. They are all busy with the presidential elections,” said yesterday retired ambassador, Özdem Sanberk to the Turkish Daily News.

The only direct assistance and help was offered by Turkish Red Crescent to the Hellenic Red Cross, through a phone call late Saturday. Tekin Küçükali, president of the Turkish Red Crescent called his counterpart and said they were ready to extend any means of help.
Küçükali, in an interview with the TDN yesterday, said they have already sent two trucks full of tents, blankets, food and medical supplies to İpsala border gate adding “But we need a permission to enter Greece. The Hellenic Red Cross should make a call to Geneva where the international Red Crescent and Red Cross organizations headquarters is, to declare the need of international help. When this call is made our trucks will enter Greece”.
Asked why Greek institutions seem not very much willing to get help from its neighbor Küçükali replied that two countries shared even bread during World War II. After World II, the then-governor of Istanbul, Lütfi Kırdar, organized a campaign of assistance of food and other aid to help Greece during widespread famine. “I would condemn them if they are suspicious of our help” said Küçükali.

Scene was different in 1999

But the case in 1999 was far from this. After the deadly earthquakes in both countries, not only the governments but the nongovernmental organizations of the two countries moved to help before any officials appeals were even made. This solidarity resulted in a rapprochement between two countries and introduced a new term to the lexicon of international relations: “seismic diplomacy”.

Things are different now today: What Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and probable-president-to-be Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül have done so far has been limited to written messages of sorrow and condolences to their counterparts, Kostas Karamanlis and Dora Bakoyannis. But their messages were lack any offers of help.

Greece should demand help
The Foreign Ministry officials who were trying to explain this unmoving stance of the government to the TDN yesterday said that the Greek government did only ask the European Union countries help. “We cannot offer any help since there is not any call from Athens for an international help, they have to make a call,” said foreign ministry officials.
But Israel, which is not a member of 27-member union, did not neglect Greece and has dispatched three helicopters to fight with fires.

Some explained the lack of robust action with the fact that Turkey has its hands full on many fronts of its own. “We are dealing with the disastrous flood in Samsun, the earthquake in Bingöl and the four forest fires in Turkey now. We don't have enough equipment to send Greece,” argued a source in the Prime Ministry Crisis Management Center sources contacted yesterday by the TDN.

“The priority should of course be internal fires and flood but Turkey cannot stand still in the face of the fires in its neighbor” said Sanberk, whose last diplomatic post was as Turkey's ambassador the United Kingdom..

Where are the NGO's?

Not only the government and official institutions but the nongovernmental organizations also performed badly in helping to Turkey's neighbor in its fight against the fires. Even the well-respected Turkish search and rescue team (AKUT) didn't make any preparations, said the General Secretary Saydun Gökşin to the TDN.
Gökşin told that they talked to the Greece Special Forces and Hellenic Red Cross but they did not ask for a rescue team.
“Greece only requests aircrafts and helicopters and we can only go there if there is a request. And furthermore we need to go there by a military plane just like in the 1999 earthquake” noted Gökşin. He added, however, that AKUT has rescue teams at the ready in Bursa and Marmaris experienced in fighting forest fires and that Turkey has nearly 50 firefighting aircrafts and helicopters.
"We have teams," Gökşin said."And we can mobilize them."

Ancient Olympia in Flames - Update

As fires threaten the ancient site of the ancient olympic stadium and its museums the government is casting aspersions that the fires were the result of 'political extremists'. Without specifying WHAT he means by this theories regarding the 'culprits' of the fires are spreading like the fires themselves. The latest is that a new American Laser is causing these fires.
Thank God for America, if it wasn't for them, we might have to look for the real culprits.

As Turkey is obsessed by a headscarf...

...Greece is burning.
France and the Netherlands sent this morning planes and helicopters to help extinguish the fires.
No 'official' statement made by the 'de missionair' Government of Turkey.


This picture is made by a British tourist in Athens. In the background the Acropolis. The picture above shows the fury which threatens NE Athens.
In the meanwhile, Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, claims that political extremists set the fires.

Greek Tragedy (by Metin of Talk Turkey)

Metin wrote an excellent post, read it here.

And from BBCworld.