The Greek Ministry of Education has ruled for the closure of nine more primary schools belonging to the country’s Turkish minority in the Western Thrace region, citing “a lack of students.”
Seven Turkish schools in the Rodop district and two others in the Iskece (Xanthi) district will be shut down, according to a decision on Wednesday by the Eastern Macedonian State of Thrace’s Regional Directorate of First and Second-Grade Schools.
The decision raises the number of Turkish schools systematically closed in Greece since 2011 under the pretext of “not enough students” and lowers the number of minority schools operating in Western Thrace to 90 from 194 in 2010. The region sits between Bulgaria to the north, Türkiye to the east, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Greek region of North Macedonia to the west.
The move sparked outcry on social media as the Association of Western Thrace Turkish Teachers (BTTÖB) took to Twitter to condemn it, saying, “The children, parents and teachers of the Turkish minority in Western Thrace start every academic year in sorrow and disappointment, wondering how many schools will be closed next.”
The closure is a clear violation of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which guarantees the rights of Turks there, the BTTÖB said.
Emphasizing that minority schools contribute to cultural wealth in Greece, the association said, “Therefore, it’s vital for the government to increase the quality of education in these schools and communicate with minority organizations to carry out the fundamentals of education.”
Some 150,000 Muslim Turks in Western Thrace, economically one of the poorest in Greece, have long complained over deteriorating conditions. Seeing the community as a “hostage” of its ties with Türkiye, the Greek government has committed numerous breaches of its obligations and ECtHR rulings over the years, including shutting down schools and mosques and banning the use of “Turk” or “Turkish.”
Earlier this year, the Turkish minority turned to the United Nations’ special rapporteur on minority issues to highlight the problems 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 pointed out that over 100 minority schools were closed in the last two decades and argued Greek authorities did not permit the opening of bilingual kindergartens whose curricula would be taught in Turkish and Greek.
The letter 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 like muftis (Muslim clerics).
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis too is accused of ignoring and whitewashing the longstanding issues plaguing Western Thracian Turks.
Türkiye has long criticized Greece for depriving the community of their basic rights and freedoms.
The issue also looms over Turkish-Greek relations, which have been strained for decades over several disputes regarding territorial claims in the Aegean.
With relations on the mend in recent months, however, Ankara and Athens have been working toward rapprochement. After holding a rare in-person meeting with Mitsotakis, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has recently expressed “an exclusive request” from Mitsotakis to overcome the problems of Greece’s Turkish minority.
“We want to overcome these problems and come to an agreement, especially about the muftis,” Erdoğan said, noting that the ambassadors and ministries in both countries would launch talks that would pave the way for Athens to make preparations for a solution.
