Turks of Western Thrace
|
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 50,000–130,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Western Thrace | |
| Languages | |
| Turkish, Greek | |
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Turks |
Turks of Western Thrace (Turkish: Batı Trakya Türkleri, Greek: Τούρκοι της Δυτικής Θράκης) are ethnic Turks who live in Western Thrace, in the province of East Macedonia and Thrace in Northern Greece.
According to the Greek census of 1991, there were approximately 50,000 Turks in Western Thrace, out of the approximately 98,000 strong Muslim minority of Greece. Other sources estimate the size of the Turkish community between 120,000 and 130,000. The Turks of Western Thrace are not to be confused with Pomaks nor with Muslim Roma people of the same region, counting 35% and 15% of the Muslim minority respectively.
The Greek government has adopted a policy of not referring to the Turkish community specifically, and instead refers to the entire Muslim minority which includes Pomaks and Roma Muslims, and does not recognize a separate Turkish minority in Western Thrace, instead referring to the whole Muslim minority as "Greek Muslims". The fundamental rights of the Turks of East Macedonia and Thrace are enshrined in the Greek constitution and the Treaty of Lausanne with Turkey, which states Greece's obligations to its Muslim minority.
Parts of Western Thrace were overrun by the expanding Ottoman Empire in 1354 and remained in Ottoman control until 1913. At this year, the Turkish community outnumbered the Greek community four to one and owned close to 84% of the land. By August 31, 1913 the Turks of Western Thrace had formed the first 'Turkish republic', the Provisional Government of Western Thrace. However, it was taken over by the Kingdom of Bulgaria on October 25, 1913, which had been victorious in the First Balkan War. France occupied the area at the end of the First World War, following the defeat of Bulgaria, and it passed into Greek hands under the Treaty of Sèvres in August 1920. Under a protocol of the same year, the Turks of Western Thrace were exempted from the 1922-1923 exchange of populations agreement between Greece and Turkey and were granted rights within the framework of the Lausanne Treaty. However, since 1923, between 300,000 and 400,000 Turks have left Western Thrace most of which have immigrated to Turkey. It should be emphasised that the actual Ottoman-era Greek Muslims of Macedonia had been included among those 'Turks' expatriated to Turkey in 1924. including the Vallahades. In contrast, the Western Thrace Turks are completely distinct from those referred to as Greek Muslims and were exempt from the terms of the population exchange.
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Wikipedia