Muslims clash in Greece after ‘Quran incident’

From the Daily Times:

ATHENS: Greek police on Thursday used tear gas during clashes with hundreds of Muslim immigrants protesting in Athens over reports that an officer had torn up a copy of the holy Quran during a routine check the day before. Around 1,500 demonstrators marched through the working class district of Kypseli towards the Omonia Square in the city centre, where there were scuffles with officers and tear gas was fired, said police. Demonstrators said that on Wednesday, as police officers stopped four Syrian immigrants to check their papers, one of the officers had torn up a Quran and stamped on it. After word spread of the alleged incident, the local Muslim immigrant community, mainly from Afghanistan and Pakistan, organised Thursday's protest. Police have so far not commented on Wednesday's alleged incident. afp

This seems part of a wider clampdown:

EU border agency helps Greece with immigration

Officers from an EU border protection agency used high-tech sensors to search trucks and monitor clandestine crossings along Greece's frontier with Turkey on Tuesday, as part of an eight-day exercise to help local authorities stem a spike in illegal immigration.

Greek authorities said the EU agency, known as Frontex, has sent 40 officers from 20 countries to work with 165 Greek border guards in the exercise. Border guards from new EU-member Bulgaria are also assisting.

Athens is seeking greater assistance from the European Union to help stop immigrants illegally crossing over its rugged borders with Turkey or reaching dozens of islands in the Aegean Sea.

Frontex officers are using heartbeat and carbon dioxide detectors, along with heat cameras and other sensors to scan vehicles, and are watching the border with a surveillance helicopter and aircraft.

Officers involved in the exercise, which ends Wednesday, reported the arrest of 12 illegal immigrants during vehicle searches.

"This border region is the hottest area of illegal immigration in Europe," Gil Arias, Frontex' deputy executive director, told The Associated Press.

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Meanwhile, Turkey raises the ante:

Greece insists to ignore Turkish rigths despite ECHR rule

Iskece (Xanthi) District Law Court in Greece announced the reasons for denial decision on the case of closure of Iskece Turkish Union (ITU) in Western Thrace that applied to Greek court to get legal rights after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decision, Turkish Anadolu news agency reported.

Denial causes were listed under three main headings in the court decision: "Greek Civil Procedure Code do not allow to change a court decision in this manner", the association applied to the court without making any changes in its charter, which is one of the reasons of closure " and "any association closed by court order have the right for financial compensation, but do not have the legal right to move on to new activities as it is before the decision."

ITU officials reported they will appeal the court decision.

ITU, after the ECHR's decision last year, had made two separate applications to get their legal rights to Iskece District Court and Rodop Court of Appeal. ITU demands to regain its legal position before the closure and the renewal of its registration that was deleted by Iskece Associations Book.

Established in Western Thrace in 1927, and shut down in 1986 by the Governor of Iskece claiming " there are no Turks in Western Thrace" and "activities threatens public order and national security", ITU struggled nearly 20 year within Greek law until 2005 and then moved to the ECHR.

ECHR desicion states Greece violated the Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights that is related to the right to organize by closing the ITU.

Greece insists on recognizing only a Muslim minority, not Turkish, impeding progress for resolving minority rights issues.


So, Cyprus comes to the rescue:

House rules Greece has no Turkish minorities

By Elias Hazou

BY UNANIMOUS vote, the Plenum yesterday passed a resolution stressing that it does not recognise the presence of “any Turkish minority within the territory of Greece”.

The move comes after DISY deputy Christos Pourgourides, in his personal capacity, signed a motion for a resolution calling for an investigation into possible human rights violations of the 'Turkish minority' in the Greek islands of Rhodes and Kos.

The contentious motion was drafted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), of which Pourgourides is a member. PACE's document, dated May 6, expressed “concern on the situation of the Turkish minority” in the two islands.

PACE's motion cited concerns over religious and linguistic restrictions for persons of Turkish ethnic origin living in the two islands. It noted, for instance, that Turkish schools in Rhodes and Kos “ceased to operate in 1972”. And that “according to the latest information received, the Turkish minority on the islands is denied the right to education in their mother tongue.”

Greece does not acknowledge the presence of a Turkish minority, instead referring to Greek citizens of Turkish ethnic origin as the “Muslim minority”.

A number of Turkish MPs also signed the same document. Pourgourides took flak from politicians in Cyprus, accusing him of playing into the hands of Turkish diplomacy and of jeopardising Cyprus' relations with steadfast ally Greece.

Yesterday's resolution by Parliament, drafted at the initiative of DIKO, also stressed that “we remain firmly opposed to Turkey's intention to promote secessionist elements in the territory of Greece”.

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Hidden from this debate are basic issues such as the denial of burial plots and services to muslims in southern Greece and the Athens area (forcing them to have to transport their dead to northern Greece for proper burial).