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Turkey. An inventory encompassing 8500 Ottoman mansions is available; many
of them are still waiting to be restored.”
Fethiye Mosque in Athens was severely damaged by the latest earthquake and
now it is a place for cats. Athens has 100.000 Muslim population without any
mosque. There should have been at least 600 Muslim maison, whereas only 3
exist. Currently there is a movie theatre inside the mosque in Naflio. Another
mosque was converted into brothel, but since the military force nearby was
dismissed it was also closed down. The situation in Northern Greece and
Dodecanese Islands is much better, since the Turks moved out relatively at a
later period from that particular area the buildings have still been in use.
According to the study conducted by Mutzopulos, 6340 churches are recorded
in Turkey. The starring building such as the Hagia Sofia – Aya Sofya are very well
cared, whereas small and isolated churches do not receive the same treatment.
Monuments are also becoming the victims of racism. In fact, both countries
do have sufficient financial resources to totally renovate this entire cultural
heritage. However ethnic cleansing is also practised on monuments.
The Croatians bombed only the Mostar Bridge while there were thousands of
other bridges only because it was a Muslim bridge.
Zeynep Ahunbay told us about the restoration studies on the Girls’ Monastery
around Trabzon and gave a picture on the destruction and damage. Even
though the project got into the implementation phase, due to a change in
the local government, the project couldn’t be completed. Ali Cengizkan came
across with the plans and drawings of some houses and villages built after
the population exchange as he was researching the housing policies of Turkish
Republic after the 1999 earthquake. Since these plans were very similar to
other housings built previously in Ottoman times, he noticed the continuity
from the Ottomans to the Turkish Republic. He told us that all the documents
regarding population exchange, development and settlement proxy that is
currently kept by Land and Settlement General Directorate is to be disclosed
for public information in 2-3 years.
Sacit Pekak said that the families in Cappadoccia region were not willing to
assist with the identification of house-churches with the fear that Ministry
of Culture would confiscate their houses. However, there are many domestic
chapels within these houses. Filiz Yenişehirlioğlu shared her memories from
their trip to Greece, as they were visiting the settlements built for emigrants.
She was looking for the traces of influence from Anatolian structures. In some
houses, windows and doors resemble these traces. In many of the settlements
there are fountains at squares which is common culture and a big reflection
from Anatolia.
MINORITY-“MILLET” CULTURE
BEFORE & AFTER “LAUSANNE”
The second day of the conference was also dedicated to the theme of Minorities
and Millet “Nation” Culture. One of the Greek speaker was mistaken to claim
that the roots of the word “mübadil”- emigrant is Arabic which means “price to
be paid”. Renée Hirschon, as an expert on the subject, corrected by referring
to her recent book.
Kostas Tsitselikis pointed out some very interesting arguments in his speech.
“Venizelos claimed in one of his speeches in 1906 that Greece would very
soon become a Muslim power, with the assumption that he would occupy the
whole Anatolia. He would be right in his statement, if we consider the Muslim
community under the occupied areas and in Greece at those days. However
his dreams of Muslim majority under the control of Greek minority failed very
sadly”.
“Through the exchange of populations a solution has been suggested for the
first time in history within the framework of international law; as we all
know, Albanians were left out of the exchange context. 9000 Muslims living in
Dodecanese became Greek citizens”
“Millet system is still ongoing in both sides. In Western Thrace, provisions of
Islamic law are in practice in daily life; however, in Turkey the authorities of
the Patriarch are restricted. Secular Turkey supports the provisions of Islamic
law in Western Thrace for the sake of supporting the community itself. A
strange dilemma”
Giorgos Mavrommatis also contributed in the panel discussions with expressing
his views about the emigrants.
Population Exchange Association des Etats Généraux des Etudiants de L’Europe