European parliament working paper
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- The use of the language in various fields
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
TurkishIntroductionThe Turkish spoken in Greece consists of Rumeli (Europe) dialects. Turkish is spoken mainly and widely in Thrace (the north-east of Greece: Evros, Rodopi and Xanthi prefectures) by Turks, Pomaks and Romas of all age groups and in the islands of Rhodes and Kos. 85,000 Muslim Turkish-speakers live in Thrace and over 15,000 elsewhere in Greece. Economic or political reasons – especially after the Cyprus crisis in 1974 - caused internal and external migration. Over 20,000 Greek Orthodox descendants of those who were settled in Greece after the 1923 population exchange, are speakers of Turkish; most live in Macedonia and Thrace. In this case the language is on the decline. Some Turkish-speaking migrants from Turkey and Georgia have recently settled in Greece too. The Muslims of Thrace, mainly Turkish-speaking, remained in Greece after the population exchange as a de jure minority. After the Dodecanese islands were annexed in 1947, their 5,000 Muslim Turkish-speakers were granted Greek citizenship, and about 4,000 descendants still speak Turkish. The legal status of the minority stems from Treaty of Lausanne (1923). The legal protection of Turkish deals principally with education rights, but also provides for interpretation in legal and voting procedures. many members of the minority perceive that the two main political parties regard the promotion of the Turkish language as an affair that falls in the scope of Greek-Turkish bilateral relations. Only the leftist Synaspismos has expressed positive views on the matter. In 1998 the EU co-funded a conference, the ‘Language and diversity’ project, in Komotini, under the auspices of the mayor The use of the language in various fieldsEducation: In Thrace minority schools are provided on the basis of religion: Muslims can choose between the bilingual minority schools or the Greek state schools. Standard Turkish and Greek are used equally as media of instruction in minority schools, and Turkish is also taught as a subject. Muslims have 231 primary schools and two secondary schools, as well as two religious seminars. The 8,500 pupils in minority schooling, and their teachers, face numerous problems, especially the unsatisfactory levels of attainment in Turkish and Greek, and deficient teacher training. The Greek government recently improved the Greek language textbooks, while new books for the Turkish-medium curriculum have at last been issued by Turkey, activating the 1968 agreement between Greece and Turkey. The courts: Turkish can be used in the Courts according the general provisions of the civil and penal procedure law (see Introduction). A special law provides for Turkish-speaking interpreters in the courts, but this service is often not used, for various reasons. Public authorities and services: At elections, the voting procedure code151 provides for interpreters of Turkish language in polling stations in the prefectures of Evros, Xanthi, Rodopi and Dodecanese. According to Article 7 of Law 1920/1991 the Muftis (religious leaders of the Muslims) officially have to use only the Greek language. Turkish is not officially used by the authorities at all. Turkish is absent from public signs and street names. Mass media and information and communication technology: Newspapers and books are imported from Turkey, but have a rather limited circulation. A few minority newspapers are published and several radio stations broadcast in Turkish throughout Thrace. A very small number of Greek-language media have a section in Turkish. Radio stations and TV from Turkey can be picked up in areas close to the border. The Komotini municipality offers a satellite Turkish channel. Turkish on the Internet are thanks only to websites created in Turkey. The Arts: Music and videotapes, mainly imported from Turkey, and are widespread in the area of the minority. Turkish music and songs are played at festivities of all kinds. In some rare cases concerts in Greek and Turkish have been organised. Virtually no books in Turkish are published in Greece. The business world: Turkish is used freely in all business contacts within the Muslim minority and with Christians as well. Bilingualism is considered an advantage in some commercial professions. Turkish is used mainly informally in oral relations between customers and shopkeepers. Turkish is also used in advertising in the minority media. Family and social use of the language: Turkish is used freely in public, as its public use is regarded as acceptable in all fields. Young speakers usually marry within the group (cases of exogamy - with Christians - are rare and socially not very well accepted), and this guarantees the transmission of the language. Social organisations do not use Turkish in public at all. Muslim establishments and institutions play a significant role with regard to Turkish. In Thrace, young Turkish-speakers use it in their everyday life as their first language. Yet Turkish does not play a positive role for social esteem in the wider Greek society. Transnational exchanges: There was very little official activity in this field until about three years ago. City twinning and municipal cross-border cooperation have since developed, though with very little direct impact on the Turkish language. ConclusionThe agents of language production and reproduction seem to guarantee the future of the language, especially as regards the minority in Thrace. Turkish is not on the decline, and in some cases there is a shift in favour of Turkish. However, outside the home, promotion of the language is left entirely to education. Implementation of language rights and social acceptance would create a solid basis for the successful promotion of Turkish. Still, Greece’s policy towards the minority still depends on political relations between Greece and Turkey. BibliographyV. Aarbakke, The Turkish minority of Thrace, Greece, PhD Thesis, School of history, Bergen University, Bergen 2001. L. Baltsiotis, ‘Greek administration and minority education in Western Thrace’, (in Greek), in Ê. Tsitselikis & D. Christopoulos (eds.) The minority phenomenon in Greece, Kritiki Athens 1997 L. Baltsiotis & K. Tsitselikis, The minority education of Thrace: Legal texts and comments (in Greek), A.N. Sakkoulas/KEMO, Athens-Komotini 2001
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