Conseil de l’Europe et la Démocratie

L’Europe de la démocratie et des droits de l’homme 

L’action du Conseil de l’Europe

A l’occasion du 60e anniversaire du Conseil de l’Europe et de la parution du livre L’Europe de la démocratie et des droits de l’homme – L’action du Conseil de l’Europe,

Les Editions du Conseil de l’Europe organisent une conférence-débat avec l’auteur Jean Petaux docteur en Science Politique (Science Po de Bordeaux)

le lundi 18 mai à 18h à l’Ecole nationale d’administration, Strasbourg Amphithéâtre Jean Zay, 1 rue Sainte-Marguerite

avec la participation de M. Jean-Louis Laurens, directeur général de la démocratie et des affaires politiques (Conseil de l’Europe)  et de M. François Gilles de Theule, directeur du Centre des Etudes Européennes (CEES / ENA)

 

Summer School

 

Muslim Minority Affairs

The Muslim Minority of Western Thrace in Greece: An Internal Positive or an Internal Negative “Other”?

Christina Borou

 

Abstract The signing of the Treaty of Lausanne, the main bilateral agreement for the protection of Greek and Muslim minorities, hallmarks the onset of a bilateral conflict between Greece and Turkey. Together with tackling the issues of the Aegean and Cyprus, the question of the Muslim minority in Greece impedes the normalization of Greek-Turkish diplomatic relations in recent decades. The state of affairs of the Muslim community in Western Thrace has been labeled as an extremely sensitive issue within the political scene. Drawing upon Pille Petersoo’s typology this paper introduces the notion of “negative and positive Others” to explore its role in Greek nationalist discourse. The main minority political, cultural and religious claims are also discussed, emphasizing minority’s most prominent political claim, the recognition of its ethnic Turkish identity. The paper argues that the historical and political conditions as well as the common ethnic background of a minority group with a kin-state, have nurtured the formation and expression of an internal negative “Other”. However, new dynamics have promoted the reconstruction of the role of otherness in Greek national identity.