The state of the rights of the Turkish minority, mostly based in Greece's Western Thrace region, has deteriorated under the government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a lawmaker from the country's main opposition said on Thursday.
Hüseyin Zeybek, a deputy of the SYRIZA party of Turkish origins, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the government had failed the test of democracy.
He reiterated that Greece violated the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rulings that protect the Turkish minority's freedom of association.
Greek authorities shut down the Iskece (Xanthi) Turkish Union for having the word Turkish in its name.
"However, I believe, SYRIZA has a better understanding of human rights and minority rights and hence it will deal with this matter differently," he said.
Furthermore, the pressure on Turkish associations, and the minority at large, intensified during the tenure of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Zeybek added.
Both Mitsotakis and Nikos Androulakis, the leader of the social-democrat opposition party PASOK, ignored the minority in their recent visits to the Western Thrace, he said.
The ruling party's economic policies which favor the rich and powerful over farmers and the working class negatively affect the minority's economic situation, he said.
Zeybek also stressed that SYRIZA favors dialogue with Ankara to resolve issues between the two countries.
The Western Thrace region, near the northeastern border with Türkiye, is home to a substantial, long-established Muslim Turkish minority numbering 150,000.
The rights of the Turks are guaranteed under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, but during the decades ever since the situation has seriously deteriorated, including the instance of Greece refusing to implement ECtHR rulings.
Associations bearing "Turkish" in their names are still banned in Western Thrace, although the ECtHR ruled against Greece in 2008.
The Turkish minority turned to the United Nations’ special rapporteur on minority issues drawing attention to the issues it has been facing.
In a letter sent by the Friendship and Equality Party (DEB), and backed by numerous minority religious, educational and civil associations, the community highlighted the problems with education, including Greece's intervention in the minority's autonomous educational system.
While over 100 minority schools were closed in the last two decades, as the authorities did not permit the opening of bilingual kindergartens whose curricula would be taught in Turkish and Greek, the letter said.
It underscored that authorities also act in violation of international obligations related to the Turkish minority's rights by not legally allowing them to elect their religious leaders.
