turkish-greek civic dialogue - AEGEE Europe

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While it was clear that Greek was the language of Greeks and the Greek state,
the Turkish-speaking and the rest of the not Greek-speaking refugees were
found in very difficult place. They were often judged as national suspects,
reaching the point to feel shame for an important piece of their culture, and
therefore, for an important piece of themselves. Thus, through the education
and under the effect of other factors, they resigned from a lot of culture
elements of their Community.
For the Muslim women of Thrace the situation developed rather differently.
They did not need to be moved. However, the borders were moved and they
turned up to be citizens of a national state with different mainstream language
and religion and they became minority, with concrete rights that were based in
the Treaty of Lausanne. Their Community structures were recognized and they
continued existing.
Therefore the children of minority Muslims of Thrace continued studying in the
Community schools that were managed from the Muslim clergy.
However, since beginning, contradictions created between innovators that
were supporters of the Turkish national ideas and conservatives, who were
supporters of national perceptions, regarding the control of education of
minority. In the beginning of 1950 decade, because of the improvement of
Greek-Turkish relations - mainly because of the attendance of both countries
in the NATO - the innovators prevailed and the minority educational system
acquired a Turkish character. The Turkish school, existing under the control
of individuals that were supporters of Turkish nationalistic ideas, taught the
Turkish language not only in children that had the Turkish language as maternal,
but also in children that in their families spoke “Pomak” – a southern Bulgarian
dialect - but also gipsy, cultivating systematically the feeling of belonging in
Turkish nation.
After the period 1955 - 1975, it was sought to exclude any kind of interference
of Turkey in the minority education and to erase the elements related with
the culture of the Turkish national idea. The improvisation of the application
of this system resulted in a remarkable decrease of quality of the minority
education system.
Studying the education of minority Muslims of Thrace during the period 1923-
1995, we observe that the minority education system, under the guidance of
persons supporting the Turkish national ideology, was improved considerably
and it reached the point to offer to the students a modern education. It
contributed considerably in the homogenisation of Thracian Muslims and in the
culture of perception that they belong in the Turkish nation, facilitating thus,
those who decided to immigrate in Turkey, to subsume smoothly in the Turkish
society and economy.
There are three basic ascertainment that I want to stress:
1. The Greek public education played a decisive role in the integration
in the Hellenic reality of the refugees, and in their homogenisation
with the local Greeks, in the boundaries of the Greek nation.
2. The minority education contributed decisively in the culture of
Turkish national identity in the Thracian Muslim minority.
This system created important conditions for their integration
in the Turkish society, depriving them, however, substantially the
possibility of integration in the society and the economy of the
state in which they were citizens, condemning them thus in
marginalisation, “ghettoisation” and social exclusion.
3. The religion that constituted also the basic criterion for the
exchange of populations appears to be, if not the vehicle, sure
the key that opened the door of integration placing the conditions
of homogenisation. The religion constituted the main criterion of
belonging in the nation.
80 years have passed since about 2 million persons were compelled to abandon
their hearts, to move, even to thousands of kilometres away, and to rebuild
their lives from the beginning. Opposite interests, different estimates,
disagreements and litigations will always exist. It’s not possible, however,
persons to be killed or to be persecuted because they have other language and
other religion, because they belong in another nation. We, the children and the
grandchildren of persons that for these reasons were turned away 80 years ago,
let’s play a leading part in spreading over of this message.
Population Exchange Association des Etats Généraux des Etudiants de L’Europe