Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Greek Village's Muslim Culture Clashes With Athens

From Europe News:


Greek Village's Muslim Culture Clashes With Athens

NPR 23 January 2012
By Joanna Kakissis
Komotini is a village in the Greek province of Thrace. Its Muslim population dates back to the time of Ottoman occupation. They still speak Turkish and Shariah law still applies to Muslim residents in family matters, a state of affairs that has inflamed some politicians in Athens. Meanwhile, residents say their bigger problem is poverty.
Transcirpt:
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Reporter Joanna Kakissis traveled to the province of Thrace in northern Greece to look into a religious controversy. What she found, like so much in Greece these days, was a story about the sad state of the economy.
JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: Recep Pacaman greets friends at his family home in the village of Komotini. The male visitor is wearing a prayer cap; the woman a dark head scarf.
(SOUNDBITE OF PEOPLE SPEAKING TURKISH)
KAKISSIS: They're speaking Turkish. For 400 years, Greece was ruled by the Ottoman Turks. When the Ottoman Empire finally collapsed after World War I, many Greeks were left in Turkey and many Turks found themselves in a now-independent Greece. A brutal war followed and Greeks were expelled from Turkey and Turks from Greece. But the peace treaty ending the war allowed about 100,000 Turks to stay in Greece. Recep Pacaman's family was among them.
RECEP PACAMAN: This house is more than 150 years. You can see, you can feel this. It's from Ottoman Empire. (...)
 

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