ELEN: The issues faced by the Turkish community in Western Thrace in Greece, in education today and its current general situation cannot belong to the 21st century; they are outdated and anti-democratic!
Within the scope of the fact-finding mission organised by the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) with the participation of the European Language Equality Network (ELEN) on 1-4 May 2025, a special meeting was held on 3 May 2025 to discuss the problems of the Turkish community in Western Thrace in the field of education.
The meeting, organised by ABTTF and hosted by the Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association (WTMUGA), was attended by the Western Thrace Turkish Teachers’ Union (BTTÖB), the Culture and Education Foundation of Western Thrace Minority (PEKEM), the Union of Western Thrace Turkish Minority School Board Members, the Xanthi Turkish Minority Middle and High School Board, the Xanthi Turkish Minority Primary School Board and the Friendship, Equality, and Peace (FEP) Party.
At the special education meeting held with ELEN, which aims to ensure multilingualism within the framework of linguistic equality and human rights for communities in Europe that speak regional, minority or endangered languages, and which raises the issues of these communities at local, regional, national, European and international levels, the presidents and administrators of institutions and organisations representing the Turkish community in Western Thrace in the field of education discussed the issues faced by the Turkish community in Western Thrace at the primary school, primary, and secondary school levels.
At this special meeting, representatives of institutions and organisations representing the Turkish community in Western Thrace in the field of education detailed how the Turkish community was granted autonomy in education under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, but how this autonomous structure was dismantled over time through laws, regulations and arbitrary practices.
During the meeting, which addressed issues at various levels of education, representatives of the Turkish community in Western Thrace stated that, due to the rejection by Greek authorities of their demands for the establishment of bilingual kindergartens within the autonomous school system and under fully private school status, all Turkish children in the region are currently forced to attend public kindergartens where only Greek is taught.
At the meeting, representatives of the Turkish community indicated that the Greek state was deliberately undermining the autonomous structure and implementing measures aimed at lowering the quality of education in Turkish schools by taking control of their operation and management. In this context, the representatives highlighted issues such as teacher appointments, the powers of the school boards, and issues in the implementation of the bilingual curriculum. They noted that the decision to close schools with insufficient number of pupils, made in 2010 as part of economic and financial measures, was also applied to private and autonomous Turkish schools, leading to a sharp decline in the number of Turkish primary schools. Noting that there were 307 Turkish primary schools at the time the Treaty of Lausanne was signed, but that this number has now fallen to 86, the representatives explained that the ultimate goal in the long term is the elimination of the Turkish minority school system.
The representatives also detailed the issues faced at the middle and high school levels, particularly the problems surrounding the new school building for the Xanthi Turkish Minority Middle and High School.
ELEN President Elin Jones and ELEN Secretary General Davyth Hicks stated that the issues faced by the Turkish community in Western Thrace in Greece today in the field of education and the current general situation are not befitting of the 21st century, and that the state’s policies and practices are outdated and anti-democratic. ELEN officials noted that Greece’s discriminatory policies toward minorities and languages are even worse than those frequently criticised in France. ELEN officials noted that they are ready to provide support at both the national and international levels to address the educational challenges faced by the Turkish community in Western Thrace.
