A Rum Citizen Murdered in Gökçeada: Perception of 'Rich Minorities' Risks Human Life

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

86-year-old Zafir Pinari, a Rum (Greek) citizen, was found dead in his home in Gökçeada/Imbros, Çanakkale on May 14.

While the deceased body of Pinari was sent to Forensic Medicine Institute for post-mortem examination, the way he was killed has, once again, raised the issue of how the minorities in Turkey are perceived.

Until the year 1964, the majority of Gökçeada's population consisted of Rums (Greeks). Considering the "policies of Turkification' and "melting program", Gökçeada is also a critical point for minorities in Turkey.

Shortly after the death of Pinari was reported, Laki Vingas, the Chair of both Imbros Association for Education and Culture and Yeniköy Aya Panagia Greek Orthodox Church Foundation, tweeted the following message:

"When I saw this sad news, the same urban myth came to my mind: Rums are rich, their money and gold abound! This mentality should change now. Our primary purpose in life is not money, but a happy and peaceful life."

Seeing this tweet, we have talked to Laki Vingas about how minorities are perceived in Turkey. Vingas has stated the following about the issue:

'They still have the perception 'minorities are rich"'

"Be that in İstanbul, in Anatolia or in Gökçeada... Though they are age-old communities and we have been living together for years, people still have the perception that 'They are rich, they are in contact with the overseas and receive instructions from there.' We cannot get over it.

"We have two main problems: The loyalty of minorities to the country is constantly questioned and we are always considered to be rich people.

"We are not considered to be a society that is going through natural processes like other communities.

'We also have good and bad people'

"I would like to remind you something, as I have seen it for many times before. A couple of years ago, a mayor candidate, who had been in politics for 30 years, came here. While we were informing him about the aid activities to our poor, he told us, 'God, do you have poor people?'

"Who said that was a politician of 30 years. I am not talking about his party or his personality, I am talking about the perception.

"There are the rich and poor, the guilty and innocent, the ones with good and ban intentions, the faithful and atheists in our society, like all societies.

"I think that categorizing or othering people solely based on their identities does not make any sense."

'Just when we are doing good things in Gökçeada...'

Stating that they have managed to make a small part of their community return to Gökçeada, Laki Vingas has continued as follows:

"We have created a lovely consensus, a lovely energy. Efforts should be made to protect this consensus and energy.

"Of course, in every society, there are always the ones who think differently, but these reactions should not be brought to the point where they put human life at risk or cause the death of people."

Underlining that "such unfortunate events curb their excitement just when they are doing good things in Gökçeada," Vingas has concluded:

"I hope that our hopes will not be overshadowed and we will continue our efforts in the same direction." (PT/SD)