European Union

First, according to some of the participants both from the minority and from the Orthodox community, it is not joining the EU that directly influenced the improvement of the minority’s condition in Western Thrace. Indeed, after some further research on the topic it became clear that it was first the fear of the minority becoming consistently more influenced by Turkey that lead the Greek political approach towards the minority to change rather than a push from the EU. In other words: ‘In 1989-90, fifteen years after Greece’s transition to democracy, minority politicization on the basis of Turkish nationalism compelled Greek political leaders to reconsider their policy of exclusion and discrimination’(2006, 7). Indeed, Greece joined the European community in 1981, however the ‘equality-equal citizenship’ policies which helped to abolish some of the laws that stood against equal rights between the minority and the main Greek Orthodox population were set in place in 1989. Thus, originally there seems to be no direct correlation between the EU’s influence and the minority gaining its rights.

The disappointing role of the EU in terms of economical integration

Furthermore, Umit Halil Ibrah did point out that certain aspects of joining the EU didn’t positively influence the minority’s economical situation. Indeed, it appears the funding of EU and the new laws that were attached to this financial support was not always beneficial for the minority. According to a couple of the participants, the Muslim community of Thrace has been cultivating tobacco for centuries in the region and joining the EU has imposed new taxes and restriction on their plantations that have not permitted them to prosper on their tobacco cultivation. This was a concern that was once more confirmed by some further research:

‘The minority’s socioeconomic position, however, remains vulnerable due to the decline of agricultural subsidies and their gradual elimination in tobacco production. Despite increased funds, subnational authorities have not been able to redress the most pressing issue, which is the need to create alternative forms of occupation and cultivation that can substitute tobacco.’ (2006, 15)

Additionally, in this EU funded study, it was pointed out that this trend was coupled to the Greek State continuing to favour Greek businesses over minority ones and giving more opportunities to Orthodox businesses to acquire these funds while not informing the minority on these funding opportunities (2006, 16).

Therefore, in terms of economical integration, joining the EU has not always been beneficial for the Muslim community because of the EU’s failure to give alternatives to the minority’s economical development and the Greek authorities implicit discrimination of the minority in the way they favoured directing the EU funds to the Orthodox population. This might explain why some of them do not feel European.

Nonetheless, other participants of the study like Pedro Giatzo or Anastasia Tsibiridou, did recognise the importance of the EU in terms of protection of the minority’s rights. One of the participants mentioned the Treaty of Lisbon on the protection of minority rights, signed in 2007, which states:

‘The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail, as well as the European Action Programme regarding Human Rights and Democracy 2015-2020 all minorities are protected and supported to enhance their specific traits.’

Furthermore, for a few of the participants the EU that might have not helped in the past is now a body that can help anyone from the minority in terms of judicial issues. In other words, when the minority feels it is being restricted in terms of rights it can ask for help from the European Court of Justice, even on a personal level, as in the case of the Greek Muslim women that suffered from the harsh terms of the sharia law. But also on a community level as the example of the minority presenting to the minority took to the European Court of Justice their violation of right to self identify and to associate with using the term ‘Turkish’ in the title of their groups.

Therefore, the EU plays a role of protection in terms of human rights when the minority and the Greek State come to a disagreement. The EU then becomes a neutral and objective party to be called upon in times of injustice.

Finally, many of the participants like Pedro Giatzo, believed there is a lot more the EU could do for the Greek people and the minority in terms of integration. First by promoting ways for the communities to connect locally and secondly, on a European level, by allowing Greek people in general not to feel like ‘second-class citizens’ and rejects of the European Union because of the dooming economical crisis they face. In other words, these participants believed that the minority and people of Greece more generally would surely with time, feel more European, if the current political and economical climate improved.

Thus, to conclude, although the opinions about the EU’s impact on the current status of the minority differ it is clear that in the past they were not as involved with the minority as they are now. Currently they have an influential role in the protection of human rights for the minority. However, because of the current economical crisis in Greece and the problems of economical and social integration for the minority, not all citizens feel European.