The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs made a statement in connection with the law on bringing in accordance with the norms of the Greek Civil Code the procedures for inheritance, marriage and divorce for the Turkish community, which were previously decided by the Shariah court.
In general, the new law was approved by Ankara, but the Turkish authorities did not fail to emphasize that they expect protection of the rights of the Muslim minority in Greece, in particular, they count on recognizing the authority of muftis in the Muslim community of the country.
Yesterday, appeared an information that Greece had passed a law allowing Muslims to apply to secular courts. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called it a “historic step”, as he “extended equality before the law to all Greeks.” At the same time, the Greek authorities themselves expressed their fear that this law could complicate the already strained relations between Greece and Turkey, which shows great interest in the Muslim community in Thrace.
The Thracian community of the Turks in Greece is almost one million Muslims. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, they continued to live in the Greek province under the law of an already non-existent Islamic state. So, since the 1920s, parallel legislation was in force in Greece – sharia law, which Muslims were guided in matters of divorce, custody of children and inheritance.
The statement of the Turkish department says that the new law, adopted yesterday in Greece, was prepared in response to a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights of a private person, representative of the Turkish community. The Turkish Foreign Ministry writes in a statement: “We hope that the Greek authorities will not make differences between national minorities when taking into account the decisions of the ECHR, including on the registration of public organizations.” Here, apparently, it is about the possibility of creating official Muslim associations in the legislative field of Greece, and it is possible that this can subsequently cause tension in the country and between the two countries.
At the same time in Turkey expects that the Greek authorities will give up pressure on the muftis elected by the Turkish community of Greece. “Recently, criminal cases have been opened against a number of elected muftis in the Greek region of Thrace, where ethnic Turks live compactly. Thus, there was an attempt to pressure them, which is of concern to Turkey,” the statement stresses.