Western Thrace

Turkey urged Greece early on Sept. 24 to cancel a circular restricting Muslim students and teachers from performing their religious duties. 

Greece must put an end to its interventionist practices and policies of pressure against Muslim religious leaders elected by the Turkish minority in Western Thrace, Turkey's foreign minister said on Sept. 4.

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Now the Muslim minority in Thrace numbers approximately 120,000 members while the Greek minority in Turkey has shrunk to only 3,000

Turkey condemned the decision of Greece for closing 12 more primary schools belonging to the Western Thrace Turkish minority, "using austerity measures and the insufficient number of students as an excuse."

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Turkey on June 17 condemned a Greek court's decision to sentence the elected mufti, or Muslim official, of the city of Xanthi to time in prison with a three-year deferment of the sentence.  

A criminal court in the city of Thessaloniki sentenced Ahmet Mete to 15 months in prison for "disrupting public order by sowing public discord."

The house was in a sprawl of cinder-block shanties on the eastern edge of the town. Two Greek flags hung near the approach. Beyond them lay the Muslim cemetery. The women served coffee, accompanied by the usual jokes about whether to call it Greek or Turkish. The correct term, of course, depended on where you happened to be.

When Turkish ministers visit Thrace, there are always concerns about references to a Turkish minority in the region, even though the Lausanne Treaty defines the minority as a religious one.

Ankara on May 22 urged Athens to end its denial of the identity of Turkish minority living in Greece.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on April 17 condemned the latest move by Greece on appointing the chief mufti and Athens' treatment of Turkish descendants in Western Thrace.

The Turkish press is beating the drums over the arrival of US forces in Evros