Translation of article posted in French:

Muslim girls living in Thrace, north-east Greece, can expect to be legally married by the age of 13, without the state uttering a word against it. This is a violation of EU rules for the protection of childhood.

One case in particular, of a girl who was married off at the age of 11 to a man of 22, has come to the attention of the world's media. Komotini, a Thracian suburb, is home to around 100 000 Muslims.

According to Muslim MP Ilham Ahmet, of the Greek conservative majority, a court in Dusseldorf annulled the marriage and took the child into care, after the couple tried to emigrate to Germany in December. Legal proceedings have been started against the husband.

Unfortunately, the marriage is legally binding in Greece, as the country recognises the rulings on family affairs of the three muftis in Thrace, who follow sharia, or Islamic law.

The mufti of Komotini, the most moderate of the three, doesn't generally marry couples younger than 15, but made an exception in this case after the two families pleaded with him to save the honour of the bride, who had been raped.

According to community sources, the two other State-recognised muftis are much less moderate and frequently marry girls as young as 12 to boys of 14 in accordance with sharia, even though in Greece, it is illegal to marry before the age of 18 unless exceptional circumstances or pregnancy is involved.

The overwhelming majority of marriages in Greece are religious, with registry office-style ceremonies only being introduced in 1981.

No marriage statistics are available for the Muslim minority living in Thrace, but the number of divorces is thought to be five times higher than the average for the rest of the country. According to Iannis Ktistakis, Professor of Law at the University of Thrace, this can be linked directly to the proportion of people who marry young.

The divorces are also carried out under sharia, which favours the husband, especially where children are concerned. Even though, in theory, women can take their cases to the Greek courts, they rarely do, for fear of reprisals from the muftis and the Muslim community.

The position of women in this community is anathema to women's groups and feminist organisations the world over, yet the authorities prefer to turn the other cheek, to keep the peace with the volatile minority, who are mainly of Turkish origin. According to ex-MEP and militant feminist Anna Karamanou, this is disgraceful.

The Greek media itself wasted almost no column inches on the case of the 11 year old.

In the absence of any State intervention, the marginalised Roma community also marries girls younger than 18, according to a study carried out by the University of Ioannina, in 1999.

One of the authors of the report, Maria Vassiliadou, asserts that for Christian Roma, these marriages will always be performed outside of Church, until the day the Pope gives his blessing.

A step forward was for the minorities, came in 2004 when the National Commission for Human Rights recommended outlawing marriage by proxy, even more open to abuse.

As the community is recognised in both national and european law as being a minority in accordance with the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, the Commission is also fighting for strict limitations to be put on the muftis' authority, both religious and social.

At least then Thracian Muslims will be able to choose between State and Muslim law, a solution also supported by Mr Ahmet.

hi everyone!
My name is Valéry Vlad and I am chef researcher at an independent documentary production company, in Toronto, Canada.

We would like to conduct an interview with Professor Iannis Ktistakis - Law Faculty of the Democritus University of Thrace. Could someone please give me an email address of the professor Ktistakis?

Thank you.

try the univeristy website?

"Thanks for translating "

I saw the french heading and got the gist but didn't even attempt with the article!!

That is unbelievable. In this day and age I don't understand why Greece doesn't do more, it's a basic human rights issue.

Tradition is one thing, but that is something else entirely. how far do staes have to go to bend to the cultures of immigrant populations?

emigrate they bring their cultures with them...
how do we find a happy medium?

they bring their cultures with them.
how can we find a happy medium?

you can bring your culture with you in an other country if you respect the law.

In greece, a girl of 11 years can't be married, and her culture can't be superior of the law of the country were she lives

False

a gril of 11 years can't be married
the greece law forbides it

It's written in the text

I'm surprised by that, I thought there was an international/european law on marriageable age.

immigrants need to adapt to the country they're living in, just as natives need to show tolerance.

'Girls of 11 can't be married in Greece - false'??
sorry, is she on the same planet? Are we talking about the same Greece? In the year 2004, not 1504...