The head of the Friendship, Equality, Peace (DEB) Party, Çiğdem Asafoğlu, on Monday, has accused Athens of systematically dismantling Turkish minority education in Western Thrace, warning that the closure of three more schools is part of a wider assimilation strategy in violation of international law.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Asafoğlu stated that the Greek Education Ministry has pursued a policy for years of reducing class sizes or shutting down schools attended by the Turkish minority. This year, just before the start of the academic term, authorities closed schools in Kardere and Mehrikos in Rhodope, as well as in Hasanlar village in the Evros region.
She stressed that student numbers are deliberately reduced each year under the pretext of “low enrollment,” resulting in a decline from 210 minority primary schools two decades ago to just 83 today. “This is a demographic engineering project targeting cultural and identity assimilation,” she said, adding that such actions are “a crime under international law.”
Under the 1923 Lausanne Treaty, Turkish minority schools in Western Thrace are meant to have autonomous status. However, Asafoğlu said Athens applies the treaty selectively. “When it suits them, they invoke Lausanne against us. When we say ‘We are Turks’ and speak of the Turkish minority, they accuse us of violating Lausanne and being a national threat. But they breach the treaty whenever it benefits them,” she noted.
She argued that even if student numbers fall, minority schools cannot be shut down under Lausanne. Yet, once closed, schools never reopen despite official claims to the contrary. “In Musaköy and Hacı Mustafa villages, the student count later met the threshold, but the schools remained shut,” she said.
Asafoğlu accused Greece of depriving children of the right to mother-tongue education and encouraging them to attend Greek schools instead, offering transportation as an incentive. “That’s not a solution; it’s assimilation,” she said.
The DEB leader also rejected Greece’s claim that closures are temporary. “We know from experience this is permanent. It’s a calculated attempt to erode our cultural and linguistic heritage,” she said.
Beyond education, Asafoğlu warned that discriminatory policies extend to economics, agriculture and personal rights. “Greece is known as the cradle of democracy, yet when it comes to the Turkish minority in Western Thrace, democracy is absent. Laws are passed without consulting the minority’s legitimate representatives,” she said.
She vowed to continue challenging the closures through political and legal channels, including the European Parliament, where DEB holds representation. “We will not allow the Turkish people here to be assimilated or ignored. These rights are rooted in history and guaranteed under international agreements,” she said.
Asafoğlu also criticized the poor physical conditions of minority schools and the state’s refusal to improve facilities. “They want conditions to deteriorate so parents send children to Greek schools. This is part of a broader effort to reduce our numbers and change the region’s demographic makeup,” she concluded.
Some 150,000 Muslim Turks in Western Thrace, economically one of the poorest in Greece, have long complained about deteriorating conditions. Seeing the community as a “hostage” of its ties with Türkiye, the Greek government has committed numerous breaches of its treaty obligations and European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rulings over the years, including the closure of schools, the banning of Turkish-language education and refusing to legally allow the community to elect their religious leaders like muftis (Muslim clerics), which is also another treaty right.
