The Turkish children were taught Turkish until 1972 ,when the name of one of the remaining Turkish
schools teaching Turkish, the Stileymaniye Madrasah, was changed to the Thirteenth City Primary
School. Since then there have been no Turkish and Islam Religion lessons for the Turkish children in
Rhodes,Kos and the Dodecanese. Today the Turkish children, who attend the Greek schools can speak a
little Turkish. Also, Turkish people are discriminated against when they seek jobs in the public sector.
Turkish Cultural Heritage Inherited from The Ottoman Turks
Our Turkish community are not allowed to repair and restore the historical buildings and monuments
and most of the repair and restoration work made by the Greek authorities do not go beyond eyewash
and it only serves to deceive the public-opinion. Instead, they are delibaretely left to the destruction of
time. An example of this policy is the famous Suleymaniye Madrasah in Rhodes, which was built in 1878
to give the primary, secondary, and high school education to the Turkish children. The Greek
Government under the pretext of uncovering the old St. John Church under the Stileymaniye Madrasah
closed the Madrasah and started to dig its foundation. In fact, the Rileymaniye Madrasah belongs to
Evkaf (The Turkish Moslim Foundation.) However, the ownership of the Madrasah was given to the
Ministry of Culture by inventing a legal pretext.
The mosques in Rhodes are closed under the pretext of restoration,too. Today, only the Ibrahim Pap
Mosque is open. When Turkey demanded the Greek Government to open the Suleymaniye Mosque to
the Moslim Turks in Rhodes, the Greek authorities claimed that the Mosque could not be opened as it
was regarded and labelled as a piece of world historical heritage by UNESCO, The restoration process
took decades and most of the Ottoman designs and relics were replaced with the Byzantium ones.
Recently, the restoration process has been completed and SOleymaniye Mosque was opened to the
Turks on the Holy Sacrifice Day. However, the local authorities informed that the Mosque would be a
museum. Similarly, All Hilmi Pap Mosque was restored by the Municipality of Rhodes to be used as
Cyprus House. Also, the Mufti's House in Murat Reis Kiilliyesi ( a complex of religious buildings) was left
to the destruction of time and the local authorities began to build a conservatuary building in front of
Murat Reis Kiilliyesi.
In short, the architectural heritage inherited by the Ottoman Turks was plundered. The Greek authorities
carry out some minor repair and restoration work just to deceive the public opinion.
The Problem of Foundations
After the invasion of Rhodes, Italy planned to administer the real estate of Evkaf by means of a
commission. After Greece took over the islands from Italy in 1947, the Greek Government passed an act
numbered 517/1917. According to that act, on condition that they were legal, the acts and regulations
which were in force at that time would be valid until they were replaced by new ones. Meanwhile, the
Greek Government started a policy of oppression and destruction to serve their assimilation policy.
After the death of the President of the Turkish community, Sadettin Nasuhogiu, in 1965 some