To implement the guarantees of the Treaty of Lausanne for the Greek population of Constantinople, Imbros and Tenedos, to respond to the explicit demands of the resolution of the European Parliament on Turkey and to respect the criteria of Copenhagen, PASOK MEP and vice president of the Socialists and Democrats, Giannis Maniatis, demanded of Ankara.
In his intervention at the Petitions Committee (PETI) of the European Parliament, during the discussion of the petition of the Ecumenical Federation of Constantinopolitans, G. Maniatis directly linked Turkey’s European course with the effective protection of minority rights. At the same time, he asked the European Commission for systematic monitoring and clear recording of Ankara’s progress. “Its European course presupposes substantial respect for international law and European principles and values,” he stressed.
G. Maniatis highlighted the scale of the expatriation and the danger of the disappearance of the Greek Orthodox community from its homeland. According to the data in the petition, of the 150,000 Constantinopolitans of the 1950s, 99% are far from their birthplace, while fewer than 1,000 remain in Constantinople. “Behind these numbers are people who were deprived of the possibility of continuing their lives in their own place,” he emphasized.
He recalled that the then EU Special Representative for Human Rights, Eamon Gilmore, speaking at the UN General Assembly on 21 September 2022, expressed the Union’s deep regret over Turkey’s discriminatory policies, which led the Greek minority to the brink of disappearance.
He placed particular emphasis on the explicit demand to Ankara to approve the regulation for the election of the boards of directors of minority foundations that manage community hospitals. As he pointed out, the relevant appeal was incorporated, on his own initiative, into the final resolution of the European Parliament on Turkey, which was approved in June.
G. Maniatis denounced the restrictions imposed by the Turkish authorities on the coordination of the 70 foundations of the Greek minority, undermining the community’s ability to organize their operation, manage its property and ensure its continuity. He also stressed the need for the full reopening of the Halki Theological School and the lifting of restrictions on education and on the appointment of clergy. This is, as he stressed, a matter of religious freedom and “a substantial debt both to the Ecumenical Patriarchate and to the Greek population of Constantinople.”
He also highlighted the need to create real conditions of return for the Constantinopolitans who wish it: the possibility of regaining and acquiring citizenship, legal residence and work and substantial protection of their property.
“Concrete results are needed: effective protection of property, equal implementation of the legislation and free election of administrations,” he stressed and concluded: “The European Parliament must monitor the follow-up to the positions it has adopted and insist on the substantial protection of the Greek minority of Constantinople.”