The Permanent Mission of Greece to the United Nations (UN) Office in Geneva has responded to the written statement submitted by the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) to the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council regarding the current problems faced by the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace in the field of education.
In its note verbale to the UN, Greece claimed that members of the Muslim minority in (Western) Thrace—recognised as a religious minority under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and comprising over 120,000 Greek citizens—enjoy not only special protections in the fields of education, religion and civil life but also all rights guaranteed by the Constitution and European law.
Stating that education is at the heart of this policy, Greece argued that the practice of temporarily suspending education in minority schools is not discriminatory in nature and is consistent with the approach applied across the national education system.
Greece noted that the duties of the boards of minority schools are defined in detail and comprehensively in Ministerial Decision No. 62092/2002 and are limited solely to the management of the school’s revenues and operating expenses, it claimed that the committees do not have the right to permanently use school classrooms or offices in state or private schools, including minority schools.
In the note verbale, it was argued that Greece’s education policy is shaped in accordance with the principles of inclusivity, equal opportunities and excellence in education; it was further claimed that the Greek State aims to equip young people from minority communities with the knowledge, skills and critical thinking abilities necessary to succeed in modern society by continuously enhancing the quality of the education provided.
ABTTF submitted a written statement titled ‘‘Denial of Turkish Children’s Rights to Quality Education due to the Violation of the Educational Autonomy of the Turkish Community in Western Thrace, Greece’’ to the 61st session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council, held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 23 February to 31 March 2026. The statement brought to light the systematic violation by Greece of the educational autonomy of the Turkish Minority in Western Thrace, guaranteed by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne.
Please click below for the full text of the written response from the Permanent Mission of Greece to the UN Office in Geneva to ABTTF:
https://hrcmeetings.ohchr.org/HRCSessions/RegularSessions/61/DL_G_Working_Documents/A%20HRC%2061%20G.4%20Advance%20version.pdf
