Turkey condemns Greece’s decision to close 12 Turkish minority primary schools in Western Thrace, the foreign ministry stated on Monday. The decision was passed under the pretext of austerity measures and an insufficient number of students.

"With this latest decision, more than half of minority schools have been closed, bringing the number down to 103," the ministry said in a written statement, saying that Greece’s policies have become systematic.

"On the other side, it was seen that with the latest legal regulation Greece made on schools, discrimination was made by leaving minority schools out of the scope of many articles," it added.

"The mentioned decisions that violate the terms of the Lausanne Peace Agreement is another reflection on the education of the indicator of assimilation and oppression policies toward our cognates in Western Thrace that has been ongoing for decades."

Ankara further called on Athens to end its discriminatory policies.

"The international community should not be a mere spectator to a member of the European Union and European Council systematically violating human rights."