The
Islamic Revival :A Survey of Countries: Greece
Daniel
Pipes, ‘In the Path of God, Islam and Political Power’,
Basic Books, New York 1983.
In
a massive transfer of populations after World War I, Muslims living
in Greece moved to Turkey and Christians in Turkey went to Greece.
In exchange for the patriarchate of the Orthodox Church remaining
in Istanbul where it had always been, a deal was struck to spare
two communities from this transfer: Christians living in Istanbul
and Muslims are mostly Turks, but they also include some Pomaks
(Bulgarian-speaking Muslims) and Gypsies. The Greek government
allowed the Muslims to stay but made life difficult for them,
hoping they would leave for Turkey. (In like manner, the Turkish
government harassed the Christians of Istanbul). In the prefecture
of Rodop, for example, Muslims were required to get permission
to travel to other parts of Greece, while foreigners were denied
entry. In all three predominantly Muslim prefectures, the authorities
tried to erase the Islamicate cultural heritage by changing place
names, banning written material in Turkish, and prohibiting the
repair of mosques or schools.
The
Muslims of Greece were largely passive until the 1970s, when they
formed such organisations as the Western Thrace Turkish Solidarity
Association to protect interests. Despite this, conditions in
Western Thrace deteriorated further after the Turkish invasion
of Cyprus in 1974 and the economic squeeze was stepped up in 1979
with the virtual expropriation of waqf lands. These developments
prompted Ankara to take up the issue of Western Thrace with Athens
in high-level talks between the two governments. Although broken
off in 1982 with none of the disputes resolved, these did have
the effect of bringing the Thracian Muslims to international attention.
Like the Rohingyas of Burma, the Muslims in Greece paid a price
in the 1970s for the assertiveness of their co-religionists elsewhere.