Media Freedoms and Minorities in Greece and in the Balkans
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Subject: Media Freedoms and Minorities in Greece and in the Balkans
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Greek Helsinki Monitor
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Media Freedoms and Minorities in Greece and in the Balkans
Greek Helsinki Monitor
Home of Macedonian Culture
Rainbow - Organization of the Macedonian Minority in Greece
Minority Rights Group - Greece
_____________________________
PRESS RELEASE
19 October 2001
TOPIC: MEDIA FREEDOM AND MINORITIES
IN GREECE AND IN THE BALKANS
Our organizations support the recommendations below on greater freedom
of movement in the Balkans, and welcome their endorsement by the
Southeast Europe Media Organization (SEEMO) Print Media Committee and
its commitment to help implement them.
However, they believe that the conference during which these
recommendations were elaborated is unfortunately a negative example.
Dealing with "Borders and Minorities in Balkans", the speakers' list
included leaders of the minority parties - and government coalition
partners - in Albania (Greek party), Bulgaria (Turkish), Kosovo/FRY
(Serb) and Macedonia (Albanian), but no minority representative from
Greece - seat of the conference - not even either one of the two
government party deputies from the Turkish minority. We also noticed
the absence of any representative from the region's largest and most
persecuted minority, the Roma. Moreover, NGOs working on minority
rights from Bulgaria, Macedonia and Turkey were represented, but their
Greek counterparts were not; instead, authors of notorious
anti-minority publications - one belonging also to a nationalist
organization in Greece - were among the speakers. In fact, our
organizations were informed about the conference after it was held,
from media coverage.
This case is not isolated, but typical of all meetings on minorities
organized in Greece by state institutions, mainstream media and NGOs
close to the state, including - with one exception - all meetings
(co-)organized by the Council of Europe. Minorities themselves and
minority rights NGOs are hardly ever invited to attend - let alone
speak at - such meetings. While there are hardly any other contacts,
let alone discussions, between minorities and the authorities. On the
contrary, as the official Greek policy is that Greece has no national
minorities, those who advocate the opposite are to be isolated and,
occasionally, attacked if not slandered. At the same time, all Greek
media mention these minorities rarely, almost always only to attack
them (see "Minorities and Media in Greece" at:
http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/bhr/english/countries/greece/mrg-g_03_08_01.doc).
Therefore, international participation to such meetings only helps
perpetuate and legitimize this attitude. We hope that, in the future,
the signatories of the recommendations below (which, interestingly,
makes no references to minorities, although drafted in a meeting about
them), in light of the above information, will contribute to help
change Greece's intolerance towards minorities.
______________________________________
SEEMO PRINT MEDIA COMMITTEE PRESS RELEASE
Vienna, 17 October 2001
Journalists from the Balkan region request greater freedom of
movement
At the conference on "Borders and Minorities in Balkans", held on 6
October 2001 in Thessaloniki, under the auspices of the Greek
newspaper "Makedonia", several important recommendations have been
adopted, which were presented to the governments of the Balkan region.
Participants attending the conference agreed to appeal to the
governments in the region to take the necessary measures to facilitate
the free flow of information, ideas and people across national borders
within the Balkan region.
Specifically, it was requested:
- to make borders as much as possible open for free exchange of ideas
and information;
- to allow the circulation of all regional printed media within the
Balkan region;
- to allow journalists and scholars to exercise their profession
without hindrance by ensuring that if there is a need to obtain visas,
these are provided rapidly and without bureaucratic interference.
Furthermore, participants in the conference recommended that the
governments and the local NGOs promote a regular and organized
exchange of young people, especially students, thus offering the
possibility to learn from and about each other.
Finally, professional journalist organizations were requested to
foster discussions among journalists from the Balkan region about
issues of interest for the region.
Leading journalists and editors from Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, FR
Yugoslavia (including Kosovo), Greece, Macedonia and Turkey
participated in Thessaloniki conference.
The SEEMO Print Media Committee supports the above mentioned
recommendations and will use all necessary instruments to facilitate
the free flow of information, ideas and people across national borders
within South East Europe
Radomir Licina
SEEMO Coordinator for Print Media
______________________________________________________________________________
SEEMO is a regional network of editors, media executives and leading
journalists from newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, internet, new media
and news agencies in the South Eastern European Region.
Contact: SEEMO, Spiegelgasse 2 / 29, 1010 Vienna (AUSTRIA), Tel: (+ 43
1) 513 39 40, Fax: (+43 1) 512 90 15, www.seemo.at
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