The closure of Turkish minority schools in Western Thrace by the Greek government is a violation of historical treaties that guarantee the rights of minorities to education in their own language, according to Türkiye’s former deputy prime minister.
"It clearly shows that Greece does not respect human rights and minority rights," Hakan Çavuşoğlu told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Tuesday.
The majority of the ethnic Turkish minority, approximately 150,000 people, live in Western Thrace, which borders Bulgaria to the north, Türkiye to the east, the Aegean Sea to the south and the Greek region of Macedonia to the west.
Çavuşoğlu, who is currently the chairperson of the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission and was born in Western Thrace, said there were 307 minority primary schools in the region in 1926, but with the recent closure of nine schools on July 19, that number has dropped to just 90.
Late last month, citing a “lack of students,” Greece ruled for the closure of nine more primary schools, seven in the Rodop district and two others in the Iskece (Xanthi) district, belonging to the Turkish minority.
"School closures have a negative impact on the workforce and employment in the education sector. Teachers, staff, and other related people in the region will be unemployed and forced to migrate," Çavuşoğlu predicted.
He warned that school closures could increase intolerance and discrimination in society, saying, "Violation of the principle of equal opportunities in education can lead to discontent among other members of society."
Minority schools are an opportunity to pass on the cultural heritage, language and traditions of the Muslim Turkish people to future generations in Western Thrace, he said.
Çavuşoğlu recalled that since 2011, minority preschool students have been forced to attend only Greek-language kindergartens. "This practice is a clear assimilation policy. Any decision that excludes families, community representatives and institutions in the country violates the Treaty of Lausanne's minority rights."
He believed that the improvement in Turkish-Greek relations is directly related to minority rights in the region.
"Following the 1999 earthquake, an additional building for the Gümülcine (Komotini) Celal Bayar Minority High School was constructed as a result of the rapprochement between then-foreign ministers Ismail Cem and Yorgos Papandreou. This significantly increased the school's educational capacity," he said.
Türkiye is the guarantor state for the rights of the Muslim Turkish minority in Western Thrace, he said, emphasizing that Türkiye and Greece can set an example for all neighboring countries by taking a peaceful and constructive approach to resolving the problems in Western Thrace within the framework of good neighborly relations.
"The development of direct dialogue mechanisms between Türkiye and Greece can help strengthen bilateral relations, resolve issues and increase regional stability," he added.
The 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 European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rulings over the years, including shutting down schools and mosques and banning the use of the words “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, 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), a treaty right.
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.
