402 konstantinos tsitselikis THE LEGAL STATUS OF ISLAM IN GREECE BY KONSTANTINOS TSITSELIKIS Thessaloniki 1. Historical background The actual presence of Islam in the Balkans is undoubtedly linked to the long lasting Ottoman suzerainty1 in the area. The Balkan na- tional revolutions, which took place from the early 19th century, and the establishment of a series of national states, reversed the relation between Christianity and Islam, rendering the latter a minority re- ligion in Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and Romania. The legal treatment of these Muslim minorities in the Christian Balkan States was based upon the Ottoman legacy of the millet system, according to which non-Muslim ethno-religious group enjoyed au- tonomy in matters of personal status. Religious coexistence has always been deeply rooted in Greek history. Since the formation of the Greek State (1829-31), Greek Orthodoxy was acknowledged as the predominant religion of the country. Hence Christian Catholics, Jews and Muslims became mi- norities under legal protection. Muslims’ personal and property securities were set as a legal obligation of Greece guaranteed by the Great Powers. This first seed of minority protection had been adopt- ed within the frame of the negotiations that gave birth to the Greek State in 18302. Following the annexation of Thessalia (1881), Crete, Epirus, Mace- donia (1913) and Thrace (1920), Islam became gradually the most important minority religion in Greece. Nevertheless, after the ex- 1 For the history of Islam during the Ottoman Empire on what is Greece today see First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936, vol. V, E.J. Brills, Leiden 1987, p. 566. 2 G. Karipsiadis, The Greek case of state succession, (in Greek), A.N. Sakkoulas, Athens-Komotini, 2000, pp. 156-7. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2004 Die Welt des Islams 44, 3 Also available online – www.brill.nl wdi-452.pmd 402 11/15/2004, 12:07 PM the legal status of islam in greece 403 change of population between Greece and Turkey, regulated by the Convention of Lausanne (1923), the number of Greek Muslims considerably decreased. The Muslim population increased slightly after the annexation of Dodecanese (1947), Greece’s last territorial alteration. Apart from the minority Muslims, Islam is recently present in Greece under another form. During the 1990’s a strong immigra- tion wave moved towards Greece. This happened due to the collapse of the communist regimes, the political instability in the Kurdish areas of the Middle East and the strengthening position of Greece as the nearest European Union country to the region. Thus, Greece became a host country for Muslim immigrants, among others, seek- ing refuge for economic and political reasons. Islam is present in Greece under two forms: a traditional minor- ity of Greek citizenship and a recently settled immigrant Muslim population of various alien citizenships. Specific laws however regu- late solely the status of the “Old Islam” under the view of minority protection, which stems mostly from international treaties related to Greece’s territorial expansion. 2. International obligations The establishment of the Greek State (1829-1831) As an outcome of the Greek Revolution against the Ottoman Empire, which commenced in 1821, the Protocols signed in Lon- don in 1829, 1830 and 18313 expressed the will of the Great Powers to protect religious minorities living in the newly emerging inde- pendent national Greek state. According to Protocol 3 signed in London on the 3rd of February 1830, Greece undertook the obliga- tion to consider as equal all its citizens regardless of their creed and to grant to them equal access to public posts and offices. Greece had to respect the personal security and property of the Muslims 3 G. Karipsiadis, op.c., p. 52 and P. Konortas, Les musulmanes de Grèce entre 1821 et 1912, Mémoire de DEA, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris 1980, p. 16-17. wdi-452.pmd 403 11/15/2004, 12:07 PM.