Image Credits: Daily Sabah
Recent remarks by Greek lawmaker Angelos Sirigos have ignited significant backlash from Turkey’s Turkish minority community in the Western Thrace region. Sirigos, a member of the ruling New Democracy (ND) party, criticized the community’s request for bilingual preschool education, labelling it as a “provocative” demand during a speech on Tuesday.
The European Federation of Western Thrace Turks (ABTTF) swiftly condemned Sirigos’ comments, asserting that the Turkish minority’s educational needs have been consistently neglected. The ABTTF highlighted the contrast between Greece’s closure of Turkish schools and the establishment of new educational facilities for minority communities in other countries, such as a Greek primary school in Turkey’s Çanakkale province and a Romanian primary school in Romania.
Since the introduction of compulsory preschool education in Greece in 2017, minority children have been required to attend Greek-language preschools. The Turkish community in Western Thrace has been advocating for bilingual education in both Turkish and Greek, but these requests have largely been ignored.
On July 18, the Greek Education Ministry announced the closure of four Turkish primary schools in the Hacıören, Leziren, and Payamlar districts of Rhodope, and the Karaköy district in Xanthi (Iskeçe). This decision increased the total number of closed Turkish minority schools since 2011, reducing the number of active schools in Western Thrace from 231 in 1995 to 86 today.
Greek authorities justify the closures by citing low student numbers, but Western Thracian parents view this as a deliberate strategy to force their children into Greek state schools. Since 2011, Greece has either closed or merged numerous Turkish minority schools, with the Greek government referring to these actions as “suspensions” rather than closures.
The Turkish minority in Western Thrace, comprising approximately 150,000 people, faces ongoing challenges, including socioeconomic discrimination, the closure of schools, restrictions on Turkish-language education, and issues related to electing their religious leaders. These issues arise from breaches of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which ensures the rights of Western Thracian Turks. Greece has faced criticism for not upholding its treaty obligations and European Court of Human Rights rulings, including restrictions on the use of the term “Turk.”
Despite long-standing tensions between Turkey and Greece, recent diplomatic efforts have aimed at improving conditions for the minority. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has pledged to adhere to postwar treaties concerning minority rights.