Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!psuvm!auvm!SCI!BRANIS From: branis@SCI.CCNY.CUNY.EDU (Spiros Branis) Newsgroups: bit.listserv.hellas Subject: (no subject given) Message-ID: <9002050023.AA17294@sci.ccny.cuny.edu> Date: 5 Feb 90 00:23:26 GMT Sender: The Hellenic Discussion List Reply-To: The Hellenic Discussion List Lines: 79 Approved: NETNEWS@AUVM Gateway AFTO TO KEIMENO DIMOSIEFTIKE STO SCG...... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- >From sci.ccny.cuny.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!chaph.usc.edu!nunki.usc.edu !guncer Sun Feb 4 19:20:33 EST 1990 Article 2109 of soc.culture.greek: Path: sci.ccny.cuny.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!chaph.usc.edu!nunki.usc.edu !guncer >From: guncer@nunki.usc.edu (Selim Guncer) Newsgroups: soc.culture.greek Subject: CNN and Komotini (Gumulcine) Message-ID: <7858@chaph.usc.edu> Date: 4 Feb 90 23:13:42 GMT Sender: news@chaph.usc.edu Reply-To: guncer@nunki.usc.edu () Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA Lines: 59 CNN World Report broadcasted two programs from the Turkish and Greek TV's on the situation in Komotini. The programs were interesting but misinformative. The major thing one can conclude out of the two sides of the story is not the situation in Komotini but the cold war between the Greek and Turkish governments. While the Turkish government is showing a big irresponsibility in intervening with Greek politics, I still find it hard to believe that the Greek government still does not recognize the raciality of the so called "muslim" minority. If the people consider themselves as of "Turkish" origin, then noone has the right to dictate who they are, no matter what the Lausanne treaty says. This is awkward. About the programs: The Turkish TV showed an excerpt from the court proceedings of Sadik Ahmet and Ibrahim Serif, along with the aftermath of the looting done by angry Greek "christians" on Greek "muslim" property. The court proceedings had a subtitled section where someone, whom I believe was the prosecutor, asked one of the defendants whether he considered himself as a Greek citizen of Greek origin or Turkish citizen. When the reply was that he was a Greek citizen of Turkish origin the prosecutor accused the defendant of diverting his question and calling him to "go back to Turkey". Ofcourse I found this part to be unbelievable, but it may be true. The program continued by covering the "attack" by angry Greeks on Maria Damanaki, Fidios Veliki (deputies in the Greek parliament) and Stelyo Nestoras (an ex-deputy). The Greek excerpt called the incidents to be sparked "somehow" when rumours spread that a Greek "christian" hospital patient struck by a Greek "muslim" was "dead". I believe he is "clinically dead" while Turkish news sources do not comment on his condition. The program continued by stating that the Turkish government had no right to intervene by calling the minority "Turkish" when the treaty of Lausanne in 1923 "clearly" states that they are "muslims". The program continued on saying that Turkey also intervened with the internal politics of Bulgaria (by stating that the muslim minority there was also Turkish) and the Soviet Union (by supporting Azerbaijan). Further, Turkey's position against the Soviet Union was claimed to endanger "Mikhail Gorbachev's" reform movement. I couldn't make any sense out of this one, but as the proverb donated by Mr. Scordilis, "the church singer does not know what to say, so he is coughing". Turkey was also claimed to mistreat its Kurdish and Armenian minorities (while the Kurdish part is true, I am not sure of the Armenian minority), and gave exactly the figures presented by Mr. Polymenopoulos on the number of muslims in Greece and Greeks in Turkey. In any case, as I have repeated in the past couple of days and some while ago also, Turkey's mistreatment of its minorities does not give Greece the right to retaliate. The programs were good representatives of the government sponsored "misinformation" media in Turkey and Greece. The Turkish TV did not deal with its government directly intervening with Greek internal disputes, and the Greek TV reflected its governments position of diverting the racial tension which has affected so many people for the past couple of years. Selim Guncer -----------------------------------------------------------------------