The president of the Panhellenic Association of Pomaks Imam Ahmet calls on Tayyip Erdogan to stop stirring up the past and the historical passions about the «Blue Homeland».
In his open letter to the President of Turkey he states:
«Honorable Mr. President,
I belong to the indigenous tribe of the Pomaks, the existence of which you also acknowledged during your visit to Komotini on 8 and 9 December 2017.
We watch with concern the slippery slope of expansionism that you are walking down. On the pretext that the imperialist powers of the West are surrounding your country in the Balkans, the Caucasus and the Middle East, you are calling for the demilitarization of the Aegean islands and Kastelorizo, when your country has deployed thousands of men of landing troops and offensive weapons at arm's length from the Greek islands, threatening to invade them.
Mr. Erdogan, if you were in Greece's position, what would you do?;
You forget, of course, that these islands have been Greek for thousands of years, many centuries before your ancestors encountered the blue colour of the Aegean for the first time in their history.
The islands of Imbros and Tenedos were also Greek. Why don't you apply Article 14 of the Lausanne Treaty accordingly?;
For the two islands, the establishment of a regime of local autonomy and self-government is foreseen «...they will have a special administrative organisation consisting of local elements...The maintenance of order will be ensured by a police force whose members will be recruited from among the local population by the aforementioned local administration and placed under its command».»
Why are you violating Article 14 of the Lausanne Treaty and unilaterally asking Greece to apply other international treaties?;
In international law, the principle «rebus sic stantibus» applies, which means that the objective conditions under which the treaties were signed have fundamentally changed because Greece is threatened with war, so any conditions (such as demilitarization) change and cease to apply. But, what are you doing with a treaty to which Turkey was not a party?;
Stop dwelling on the past and historical passions. To the ... Blue Homeland, the Greeks could also oppose all of Asia Minor and Constantinople itself. But is it possible that today's leaders and peoples think in this way?;
Your threats show that you are ready to plunge thousands of mothers and fathers on both sides of the Aegean into mourning and add more refugees to the already existing Syrians, Iraqis, Kurds, Cypriots, Ukrainians, etc.
Would you send your own children, your son, your daughter, your daughter-in-law to be sacrificed on the front line of the war? Would you accept the slaughter of civilians, the rape of women, the murder of children, the impoverishment of peoples, the destruction of cities, infrastructure and the plundering of foreign wealth?;
We Pomaks do not want to become refugees of the 21st century. Your policy is dangerous, it is dangerous, it dynamizes the good and peaceful relations that the Greek and Turkish people should have. No minority wants war, much less we Pomaks, since a century ago hundreds of thousands were massacred, millions were expatriated and many of them live in your homeland.
If you envision reaching the standard and stature of Mustafa Kemal, you are probably using the wrong... tape measure! After all, Mustafa Kemal had clearly said: «Peace in the country, peace in the world». You are doing the exact opposite.
But if you are doing all this to survive politically, to divert the attention of the friendly Turkish people from the great economic problems they are facing and to secure your re-election, then you have fallen to the level of a very low-level politician.
I remind you that even Mussolini, before he invaded Greece, used to talk big and boast about the size of his war machine. But you saw what happened to him...
With respect
Imam Ahmed
President of the Panhellenic Association of Pomaks
Director of the Pomak newspaper ZAGALISA».
