destroying ethnic identity turks of greece macedonians in article c yc k f news cso uiuc edu ptg uxa cso uiuc edu panos tamamidis writes sure your memory is weak let me refresh your memory if that s not to late first of all it is called istanbul let me even spell it for you i s t a n b u l when my grandfather came in greece the official name of the city was constantinoupolis are you related to arromdian of asala sdpa arf terrorism and revisionism triangle now read carefully the following and then speak the recent helsinki watch page report broken promises torture and ditto helsinki watch problems of turks in western thrace continue ankara a a in a page report of the helsinki watch it is stated that the turkish minority in western thrace is still faced with problems and stipulated that the discriminatory policy being implemented by the greek government be brought to an end the report on western thrace emphasized that the greek government should grant social and political rights to all the members of minorities that are equal to those enjoyed by greek citizens and in addition they must recognize the existence of the turkish minority in western thrace and grant them the right to identify themselves as turks newspot may greece isolates west thrace turks the xanthi independent mp ahmet faikoglu said that the greek state is trying to cut all contacts and relations of the turkish minority with turkey pointing out that while the greek minority living in istanbul is called greek by ethnic definition only the religion of the minority in western thrace is considered in an interview with the greek newspaper ethnos he said i am a greek citizen of turkish origin the individuals of the minority living in western trace are also turkish emphasizing the education problem for the turkish minority in western thrace faikoglu said that according to an agreement signed in greece must distribute textbooks printed in turkey in turkish minority schools in western thrace recalling his activities and those of komotini independent mp dr sadik ahmet to defend the rights of the turkish minority faikoglu said in fact we helped greece because we prevented greece the cradle of democracy from losing face before european countries by forcing the greek government to recognize our legal rights on turco greek relations he pointed out that both countries are predestined to live in peace for geographical and historical reasons and said that turkey and greece must resist the foreign powers who are trying to create a rift between them by cooperating adding that in turkey he observed that there was will to improve relations with greece newspot january macedonian human rights activists to face trial in greece two ethnic macedonian human rights activists will face trial in athens for alleged crimes against the greek state according to a court summons no obtained by mils hristos sideropoulos and tashko bulev or anastasios bulis have been charged under greek criminal law for making comments in an athenian magazine sideropoulos and bulev gave an interview to the greek weekly magazine ena on march and said that they as macedonians were denied basic human rights in greece and would field an ethnic macedonian candidate for the up coming greek general election bulev said in the interview i am not greek i am macedonian sideropoulos said in the article that greece should recognise macedonia the allegations regarding territorial aspirations against greece are tales we are in a panic to secure the border at a time when the borders and barriers within the eec are falling the main charge against the two according to the court summons was that they have spread intentionally false information which might create unrest and fear among the citizens and might affect the public security or harm the international interests of the country greece the greek state does not recognise the existence of a macedonian ethnicity there are believed to be between to ethnic macedonians living within greece largely concentrated in the north it is a crime against the greek state if anyone declares themselves macedonian in greece serbia yugoslavia and bulgaria partioned macedonia into three pieces in albania took macedonian villages the part under serbo yugoslav occupation broke away in as the independent republic of macedonia there are million macedonians in the republic in bulgaria in albania and in serbia proper sideropoulos has been a long time campaigner for macedonian human rights in greece and lost his job as a forestry worker a few years ago he was even exiled to an obscure greek island in the mediteranean only pressure from amnesty international forced the greek government to allow him to return to his home town of florina lerin in northern greece aegean macedonia where the majority of ethnic macedonians live balkan watchers see the sideropoulos affair as a show trial in which greece is desperate to clamp down on internal dissent especially when it comes to the issue of recognition for its northern neighbour the republic of macedonia last year the state department of the united states condemned greece for its bad treatment of ethnic macedonians and turks who largely live in western thrace but it remains to be seen if the us government will do anything until the presidential elections are over serdar argic we closed the roads and mountain passes that might serve as ways of escape for the turks and then proceeded in the work of extermination ohanus appressian in soviet armenia today there no longer exists a single turkish soul sahak melkonian
