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SYRIZA Dumps Gypsy Activist For Muslim

Roma activist Sabiha Suleiman resisted "Turkification" in Thrace
Roma activist Sabiha Suleiman resisted “Turkification” in Thrace

Greece’s major opposition Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) party has suddenly and without explanation yanked a Roma leader in Thrace from its list of candidates for the European Parliament who had resisted growing Turkish influence in the region and replaced her with a Muslim.
SYRIZA confirmed, after intense internal wrangling in the party, that it had dumped activist Sabiha Suleiman for the May 25 elections and replaced her with Mestan Osman Umiz who party spokesman Panos Skourletis described as “more suitable.”
He said only that SYRIZA hadn’t properly vetted Suleiman’s qualifications, whose candidacy was also vetoed by the party’s prefectural committee in Xanthi but approved by the central committee.
She is unpopular with some of the Muslim minority because she has attempted to separate the Roma Muslims from the rest.
“It seems they wanted a candidate of Turkish conscience,” Suleiman told SKAI Radio in reference to the tendency for some members of the Muslim minority to call themselves “Turkish.”
She said she was told of her rejection in a telephone call from SYRIZA Secretary Dimitris Vitsa and remarked that SYRIZA “probably wanted a Turkish candidate”.
A molecular biologist, Mestan Osman is a member of the region’s Muslim minority which was unhappy with her attempts to differentiate the Roma Muslim community from the wider Turkish-speaking Muslim community in the region, ENet English said.
An NGO set up by Suleiman in her village of Drosero encourages Roma children to attend Greek-speaking schools instead of the minority schools for Muslims where some classes are conducted in Turkish.
As a result of her work, Suleiman told SKAI that she has been criticized by people of Turkish origin” in the past. The region’s Muslims are divided into ethnic Turks, Roma and Pomaks, who speak a Bulgarian dialect.
Under the Lausanne Treaty between Greece and Turkey, they are defined by their religion only, not ethnicity or language.
There were reports that the local Turkish consulate in the region is seeking the Turkification of all the region’s Muslims, although others said the Greek government is trying to differentiate between them.

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