1990 Komotini events

thumb|Komotini is located in the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace in northern Greece, on the border with Turkey The Komotini events (tr Gümülcine olayları) occurred on 29 January 1990 between local Greek Christians and members of the Turkish Muslim minority in the Komotini area in northern Greece. The riots started over the conviction and imprisonment of an ethnic Turkish MP, Sadik Achmet, by a Greek court. 400 shops were looted,http://www.osce.org/odihr/21527 Statement on "the continuous Greek violation of the right of freedom of association of the Turkish minority of Western Thrace" 9 May 2015 and the offices of two Turkish newspapers ransacked by Greek mobs. The pogrom-like attacks perpetrated by the Greek mobs in which no Turkish was injured, began when an ethnic Greek customs officer allegedly fell into a coma and died after being wounded in the head by a Muslim farmer during a heated argument about the trial of the Turkish MP.The muslim minority of Greek Thrace Vemund Aarbakke 2000 Phd thesis / University of Bergen http://www.batitrakya.org/yayinlar/arastirmalar/indir/the-muslim-minority-of-greek-thrace.html 430–431 At this time there was also an unfortunate incident at the public hospital in Komotini... Background A minority, which is recognized by the Council of Europe as part of the Muslim minority in Western Thrace, with estimates varying from 50,000 (official census) to as high as 130,000 (Human Rights Watch).http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc09/EDOC11904.pdf Archived copy December 17, 2009 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20090527155725/http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc09/EDOC11904.pdf May 27, 2009 https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1409353 Commissioner for Human Rights - Report by Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, following his visit to Greece on 8-10 December 2008 - Issue reviewed: Human rights of minorities ((Council of Europe, Commissioner for Human Rights, Mandate 2006-2012, Thomas Hammarberg)) 9 May 2015 The term 'Turkish minority' is officially denied by Greece via using "Muslim Greeks" instead. Discrimination of the Turks has been criticized by the US and the European Parliament.http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publisher,HRW,,GRC,3ae6a8013,0.html Refworld - Greece: The Turks of Western Thrace United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Refworld 9 May 2015 On January 26, 1990, a Greek court jailed 2 Turkish leaders because they used the word "Turk" in their political organization. Turks in Greece cannot choose their religious leader (mufti).http://www.minelres.lv/coe/court/AhmetSadik.htm European HR Court - Ahmet Sadik v. Greece 9 May 2015https://books.google.com/books?id=dt8KWhG345oC&dq=Human&pg=PA222 Human Rights Watch World Report 1997 9781564322074 9 May 2015 (Organization) Human Rights Watch December 1996 Human Rights Watch Events The events started in Komotini, when 1,500 Greek citizens of Turkish origin [Turks in Greece] gathered near a mosque chanting "we are Turks" in protest of the 1982 Supreme Court ruling restricting the use of the word "Turkish".http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,,CHRON,GRC,4562d8b62,469f3890c,0.html Refworld - Chronology for Muslims in Greece United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Refworld 9 May 2015 After the broadcast of an erroneous news item on a local radio station, organized Greek mobs damaged and looted around 400 shops of the Turkish minority as well as beating up some of the minority members including the acting mufti. The police did not intervene. After international reactionJanuary 2010 12 Greeks were arrested for attacking Muslim premises.https://books.google.com/books?id=gDXbrQHGjbIC&dq=komotini+1990+ahmet&pg=PR1 Destroying Ethnic Identity 9780929692708 9 May 2015 Whitman Lois 1990 Human Rights Watch Crossing the Aegean, Hirschon Renée, p.105 According to an eye-witness reported by Helsinki Watch: Greek mobs consisted of approximately 40 to 50 people running wild, breaking windows, beating people and vandalizing cars; he saw a police car coming behind the mob, without making any effort to stop the Greek nationalists. Foreign observers stated Greek shops were not touched, indeed many of these shops displayed Greek flags in the windows, suggesting the riots were carefully orchestrated, and that the police did not interfere to stop the mobs.Lois Whitman, Destroying ethnic identity: the Turks of Greece, Helsinki Watch (Organization : U.S.). Page 21 Aftermath The event increased the tension between Greece and Turkey when the Turkish Consul in Komotini was declared "persona non grata" and expelled from the country for having referred to the minority as "our kinsmen" in a letter he wrote to Greek authorities demanding the indemnification of damaged shops. Turkey retaliated by expelling the Greek Consul in Istanbul. When a group from Synaspismos (Coalition of the Left) led by Maria Damanaki a member of Greek parliament visited the destroyed shops of the city two days after the events, they were verbally attacked by some Greek nationalists. During their meeting with the local politicians at the town hall, an angry mob gathered outside to protest, calling Damanaki a traitor. The group could not meet the minority representatives under such circumstances and had to abandon the town hall under police surveillance.Oran Baskın, Türk-Yunan ilişkilerinde Batı Tarakya sorunu, page 192 Bilgi Yayınevi, 1991 In 1991 when Turks protested the dismissal of their chosen Mufti by the Greek government the tension increased again, reportedly thirteen people were injured and the Mosque of Komotini was bombed by Greeks.Linguistic minorities in Central and Eastern Europe, Christina Bratt Paulston, Donald Peckham, page 70 See also Anti-Turkism Bulgarization of Turks in Bulgaria Provisional Government of Western Thrace Istanbul Pogrom References Tackling racism in Europe: an examination of anti-discrimination law in practice Martin MacEwen Berg Publishers 1995 978-1-85973-047-8 UNHCR: Chronology for Muslims in Greece Category:Riots and civil disorder in Greece Komotini riots Komotini riots Category:Anti-Muslim riots Category:January 1990 in Europe Category:Persecution of Balkan Turks Category:Komotini Category:Anti-Muslim violence in Europe Category:Attacks on shops in Europe Category:Attacks on mass media offices in Europe Category:1990 in Islam Category:Greece–Turkey relations Category:1990 in international relations Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in 1990 Category:Mosque bombings Category:Attacks on mosques in Europe Category:Islam in Greece Category:Attacks on office buildings in Greece