Turkish community leaders in Greece say they won’t abide by a law that has kept them naming their own imams and forces the teaching of the Koran in Greek.
The law allows Greek authorities to appoint officials in public schools and mosques in Western Thrace but the Anadolu news agency said the Turkish minority have complained it violates their rights as well as the 1923 Lausanne Peace Treaty, which says they can manage their own religions and freely establish independent social institutions and school.
The so-called Imam Law came into effect in 2007 when it was passed by the Parliament and stated that only the Greek government could appoint the Turkish religious leaders. It wasn’t implemented because of fierce opposition from the Turkish population in the area.
In 2013, the bill was again approved by the Greek Parliament, after it was amended so that the mufti would be evaluated and appointed by a five-member committee with a Muslim majority.
Selected Mufti of Komotini Ibrahim Serif told a correspondent for The Anadolu Agency that the law has deeply upset the Turkish minority in Western Thrace. “The Turkish people are extremely uncomfortable on this issue,” he said.
The President of Chaplains Association of Western Thrace Mosques, Ahmet Saricali, said the Turkish community will never accept the law and Friendship, Equality and Peace Party leader Mustafa Alicavus also objected to it.
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