A call regarding September 6-7 pogrom from Greek community to the parliament
Atina-based Istanbul Greek Universal Federation wrote a letter to Turkish Parliamentary Speaker İsmet Yılmaz and the group leaders of the political parties which got into the parliament, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of September 6-7 Pogrom. The Federation, in their letter, asked the parliament to condemn September 6-7 Pogrom and to encourage people who wish to come back.
One of the most prominent non-governmental organizations of the Greek society, Istanbul Greek Universal Federation made a call to Ankara. Signed by the Chairman of the Federation Nikolaos Uzunoğlu and the General Secretary Nikolaos Anagnostopoulos, the letter is addressed to Turkish Parliamentary Speaker İsmet Yılmaz and group leaders and MPs of AKP, CHP, MHP and HDP.
In the letter, it is pointed out that Istanbul Greek Universal Federation represent over 100.000 Greek Nationals of Istanbul who were forced to outside Istanbul.
It is also emphasized that the negative effects of September 6-7 Pogrom still persist, and President Erdoğan’s statement on September 6-7 Pogrom that he made in 2010 and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s call for “return” to the Greek community is reminded by stating that “the event that happened on September 6-7 was a great breaking point. Before the republican period, the community was consisting of over 100.000 people and now, this number is below 3.000 and continues to decrease.”
In the letter, the following points are also emphasized: In 2012, Parliamentary Commission Investigating Military Coups and Memorandums of Grand National Assembly of Turkey prepared a report that considered September 6-7 Pogrom as the first step of the antidemocratic developments in Turkey and the records of Yassıada Trail is the proof that the trails containing September 6-7 Pogrom weren’t impartial.
“Condemn it openly”
Here are the demands written in letter, which also contains a call to Grand National Assembly of Turkey to “condemn September 6-7 Pogrom openly”: “On the occasion of its 60th anniversary, we demand that the pogrom on 6-7 September 1955 should put on the parliament’s agenda and it should be condemned by the parliament in plain terms; also, an official support should be provided on behalf of the state to the Greek Nationals of Istanbul who underwent these horrible experiences, who were subjected to vandalism and attempted murders, who had to leave their homeland and families and who were forced to migrate.
We demand from the State of the Republic of Turkey, with its legislative prerogative, to make a call to its executive authorities for taking some concrete steps in order to compensate the damages and injustices that had been inflicted; and to encourage the government and state mechanisms for taking positive steps and realizing the necessary implementations that will help the Greek community, which is decreasing day by day, to maintain their lives in Istanbul, İmroz-Gökçeada and Bozcaada, and the members of Greek community who were forced to leave Turkey because of the minority policies in the past and wish to return to homeland and restore their lives.”
The time factor
The co-signer of the letter, the Chairman of the Federation Nikolaos Uzunoğlu spoke to Agos.
Stating that their main goal is to compensate the major violation that the Greek community went through, he said that they articulated these demands on the basis of the 60/147 motion of UN.
Pointing out that the time is an important factor for the Greek community who were forced to live outside Istanbul, Uzunoğlu said, “As the Federation, we think that it is necessary to compensate what the Greek community went through; this is the main reason why we wrote this letter. We believe that September 6-7 Pogrom is the starting point of the regression of democracy in Turkey after the ‘50s.”
A report to the Prime Minister
In 2012, the federation conveyed their first suggestion to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the title of “restoration of honor”. However, the concrete steps regarding the suggestions hadn’t been taken. In 2014, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu came together with the officials of Istanbul Greek Universal Federation in Athens. The Federation filed a report to Prime Minister Davutoğlu with the title of “problems and solution offers”. In that report, they demanded that “the support and orientation programs for the young generations should be immediately determined and executed; private property rights should be restored and the precautions for protecting these rights should be taken; the new election regulations in the community foundations should become effective as soon as possible; the books and the archive of the Historical Istanbul Greek Literary Community (1862-1923) that was moved to Ankara in 1925 should be brought back to Istanbul.
It was also demanded that the process of restoring the confiscated properties of the foundations should be maintained and Beyoğlu Greek Girls’ High School’s demand for launching a foundation university should be supported.
