Western Thrace
Thrace
Θράκη | ||
---|---|---|
administrative region by Eastern Macedonia and Thrace 1987 | | |
Capital | Komotini | |
Regional units | ||
Government | ||
• Deputy Minister | Stavros Kalafatis (New Democracy) | |
Area | ||
• Total | 8,578 km2 (3,312 sq mi) | |
Population | ||
• Total | 371,208 (2011 census)[1] | |
• Density | 43/km2 (110/sq mi) | |
Demonym | Thracian | |
Largest City | ||
Website | www |
Western Thrace or West Thrace (
Inhabited since
Topographically, Thrace alternates between mountain-enclosed basins of varying size and deeply cut river valleys. It is divided into the three
The Fourth Army Corps of the Hellenic Army has its headquarters in Xanthi; in recent years, the region has attracted international media attention after becoming a key entering point for illegal immigrants trying to enter European Union territory; Greek security forces, working together with Frontex, are also extensively deployed in the Greco-Turkish land border.
Demographics
The approximate area of Western Thrace is 8,578
Thrace is bordered by Bulgaria to the north, Turkey to the east, the Aegean Sea (Greece) to the south and the Greek region of Macedonia to the west. Alexandroupolis is the largest city, with a municipal population of 72,959 according to the 2011 census.[1] Below is a table of the five largest Thracian cities:[1]
City | Greek | Town/city population (2011) |
Municipality population (2011) |
---|---|---|---|
Alexandroupolis | Αλεξανδρούπολη | 58,125 | 72,959 |
Komotini | Κομοτηνή | 54,272 | 66,919 |
Xanthi | Ξάνθη | 56,151 | 65,133 |
Orestiada | Ορεστιάδα | 20,211 | 37,695 |
Didymoteicho | Διδυμότειχο | 9,367 | 19,493 |
History
After the Roman conquest, Western Thrace further belonged to the Roman province of Thracia founded in 46 AD. At the beginning of the 2nd AD century Roman emperor Trajan founded here, as a part of the provincial policy, two cities of Greek type (i.e. city-states), Traianoupolis and Plotinopolis. From this region passed the famous Via Egnatia, which ensured the communication between East and West, while its ramifications were connecting the Aegean world with Thracian hinterland (i.e. upper and middle valley of Evros river). From the coast also passed the sea route Troad–Macedonia, which the Apostle Paul had used in his journeys in Greece. During the great crisis of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century AD, Western Thrace suffered from the frequent incursions of the barbarians until the reign of Diocletian, when it managed to prosper again thanks to its administrative reforms.[4]
The region had been under the rule of the
During the
The victors quickly fell into dispute on how to divide the newly conquered lands, resulting in the
In the following years, the
Throughout the
This was followed by the large-scale
After the
Economy
The economy of Thrace in recent years[
Religion
It's estimated that two-thirds (67%) of the population are Orthodox Christian Greeks while about a third (33%) are part of the recognized Muslim minority of Greece.[1]
Of the Muslim minority:[7]
- Turkish: ~35%
- Pomaks: ~35%
- Roma people: ~15%
- ethnic Greek Muslims: ~15%
Turkey, a signatory state of the Lausanne Treaty, initially claimed the whole of the Muslim minority to be strictly an ethnic Turkish minority even though it actually consists of multiple ethnic groups. In his December 7, 2017 visit to Greece Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, acknowledged for the first time the multi-ethnic nature of the Western Thracian Muslim minority.[8][9][10][11]
Jews and the Holocaust
Before World War 2 Western Thrace was home to a Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish population. After Greece was occupied by Axis forces, around 4,075 Jews living in Western Thrace and Macedonia were sent to Treblinka extermination camp and were murdered.[12]
Historical demographics
The last censuses which asked about ethnicity were held in the transitional period before the region became part of Greece.[citation needed] A number of estimates and censuses during the 1912-1920 period gave the following results about the ethnic distribution of the area that would become known as Western Thrace:[13]
General Distribution of Population in Western Thrace (1912-1920) | ||||||||
Census/Estimate | Muslims | Pomaks | Bulgarians | Greeks | Others | Total | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1912 estimate | 120,000 | - | 40,000 | 60,000 | 4,000 | 224,000 | ||
1919 Bulgarian | 79,539 | 17,369 | 87,941 | 28,647 | 10,922 | 224,418 | ||
1919 Bulgarian | 77,726 | 20,309 | 81,457 | 32,553 | 8,435 | 220,480 | ||
1920 French | 74,730 | 11,848 | 54,092 | 56,114 | 7,906 | 204,690 | ||
1920 Greek | 93,273 | - | 25,677 | 74,416 | 6,038 | 201,404 |
The Pomak population depending on the source was sometimes counted together with the Turks (Muslims) following the Ottoman system of classifying people according to religion, while in other occasions was specified separately. According to the Bulgarian view, they are considered "Bulgarian Muslims" and an integral part of the Bulgarian nation.[13]
By the Bulgarian census in 1919, held on the request of the Entente,[14] of the population of Western Thrace[15] was 219,723 of whom: Turks 35.4% (77,726 Muslims), Bulgarians 46.3% (101,766 - 81,457 Christians and 20 309 Muslims), Greeks 14.8% (32,553 Christians), Jews 1.4% (3,066) Armenians 1.5% (2,369), others 0,9% (1,243). The area ceded to the Entente also included Karaagach and its environs, which became part of Turkey after the Treaty of Lausanne.
1919 Bulgarian Census of Western Thrace [14] | ||||||||
Districts | Total | Turks | Bulgarian Christians | Bulgarian Muslims (Pomaks) | Greeks | Jews | Armenians | Others |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Karaagach | 25,669 | - | 12,874 | - | 11,133 | 284 | 835 | 443 |
Dimotika | 25,081 | 581 | 6,070 | - | 16,856 | 1,152 | 298 | 47 |
Soflu | 16,748 | 339 | 12,280 | - | 4,097 | 9 | 21 | 50 |
Dedeagach | 18,380 | 625 | 17,036 | - | 18 | 164 | 465 | 72 |
Gumurdjina | 92,235 | 55,754 | 21,879 | 10,802 | 364 | 1,200 | 650 | 1,579 |
Xanthi | 41,619 | 20,350 | 10,575 | 9,500 | 85 | 250 | 100 | - |
Total | 219,723 | 77,726 (35.4%) | 81,457 (37.1%) | 20,309 (9.2%) | 32,553 (14.8%) | 3,066 (1.4%) | 2,369 (1.5%) | 2,243 (0.6%) |
Western Thrace was ceded to the Entente in December 1919, after which many Bulgarians left the region, while many Greeks moved in. The Government of the Entente (led by French general Sharpe) held its own census in 1920,[16][full citation needed] according to which Western Thrace had a population of 204,700, of whom: Turks 36.5% (74,720 Muslims), Bulgarians 32.2% (65,927 = 54,079 Christians and 11,848 Muslims), Greeks 27.4% (56,114 Christians), Jews 1.5% (2,985) Armenians 0.9% (1,880), others 3,066. At the time this census was conducted, a part of the Greek population of Xanthi, who left massively the Xanthi district after the Balkan wars (1913), returned.[13]
Census in 1920 conducted by the Entente Powers in Western Thrace.[13] | ||||||||
Districts | Total | Turks | Bulgarians | Pomaks (Bulgarian Muslims) | Greeks | Jews | Armenians | Others |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Karaagach | 27,193 | 5 | 10,200 | - | 15,045 | 370 | 450 | 1,123 |
Dimotika | 26,313 | 1,247 | 4,956 | - | 18,856 | 878 | 157 | 192 |
Soflu | 21,250 | 2,770 | 10,995 | - | 7,435 | - | - | 50 |
Dedeagach | 16,317 | 640 | 11,543 | - | 3,355 | 165 | 512 | 102 |
Komotini | 64,961 | 39,601 | 14,794 | 2,341 | 4,773 | 1,292 | 651 | 1,559 |
Xanthi | 48,666 | 30,538 | 1,591 | 9,507 | 6,650 | 280 | 200 | - |
Total | 204,700 | 74,720 (36.5%) | 54,079 (26.4%) | 11,848 (5,8%) | 56,114 (27.4%) | 2,985 (1.5%) | 1,880 (0.9%) | 3,066 (1.5%) |
According to the Turkish researches[17] the population of Western Thrace in 1923 was 191,699, of whom 129,120 (67%) were Turks/Muslims (also includes the Pomaks) and 33,910 (18%) were Greeks; the remaining 28,669 (15%) were mostly (Christian) Bulgarians, along with small numbers of Jews and Armenians (before the population exchange).
General Distribution of Population in Western Thrace in 1923, prior to the Greek-Turkish population exchange, according to Turkish claims (based on of 1913)[18] | |||||||
Districts | Total | Turks | Greeks | Bulgarians | Jews | Armenians | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Soufli | 31,768 | 14,736 | 11,542 | 5,490 | - | - | |
Alexandroupolis | 27,473 | 11,744 | 4,800 | 10,227 | 253 | 449 | |
Komotini | 80,165 | 59,967 | 8,834 | 9,997 | 1,007 | 360 | |
Xanthi | 52, 255 | 42,671 | 8,728 | 522 | 220 | 114 | |
Total | 191,699 | 129,120 (67,4%) | 33,910 (17,7%) | 26,266 (13,7%) | 1,480 (0,8%) | 923 (0,5%) |
General Distribution of Population in Western Thrace in 1923, according to Greek delegation in Laussane[19] | |||||||
Districts | Total | Greeks | Turks | Bulgarians | Jews | Armenians | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Didymoteicho | 34,621 | 31,408 | 3,213 | - | - | - | |
Soufli | 32,299 | 25,758 | 5,454 | 1,117 | - | - | |
Orestiada | 39,386 | 33,764 | 6,072 | - | - | - | |
Alexandroupolis | 38,553 | 26,856 | 2,705 | 9,102 | - | - | |
Komotini | 104,108 | 45,516 | 50,081 | 6,609 | 1,112 | 1,183 | |
Xanthi | 64,744 | 36,859 | 27,882 | - | - | - | |
Total | 314,235 | 199,704 (63,6%) | 95,407 (30,4%) | 16,828 (5,4%) | 1,112 (0,4%) | 1,183 (0,4%) |
The population of the region, according to the official census of 1928 and 1951 conducted by the local authorities, per mother tongue, was as follows:[20]
Population in Western Thrace per mother tongue, 1928 (official census) | |||||||||
Prefectures | Total | Greek | Turkish | Slavic | Aromanian | Albanian | Pomak | Jewish | Other |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Evros |
122,730 | 102,688 | 16,626 | 520 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 1,010 | 1,870 |
Xanthi |
89,266 | 44,343 | 27,562 | 294 | 37 | 175 | 14,257 | 694 | 1,904 |
Rodopi |
91,175 | 36,216 | 49,521 | 245 | 26 | 21 | 2,481 | 1,178 | 1,487 |
Total | 303,171 | 183,247 (60,4%) | 93,709 (30,9%) | 1,059 (0,3%) | 68 (<0,1%) | 205 (<0,1%) | 16,740 (5,5%) | 2,882 (1%) | 5,261 (1,7%) |
Population in Western Thrace per mother tongue, 1951 (official census) | |||||||||
Prefectures | Total | Greek | Turkish | Slavic | Aromanian | Albanian | Pomak | Jewish | Other |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Evros |
141,340 | 126,229 | 10,061 | 0 | 18 | 4,121 | 112 | 18 | 781 |
Xanthi |
89,891 | 46,147 | 26,010 | 8 | 5 | 354 | 16,926 | 2 | 439 |
Rodopi |
105,723 | 45,505 | 57,785 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 1,628 | 8 | 790 |
Total | 336,954 | 217,881 (64,7%) | 93,856 (27,9%) | 8 (<0,1%) | 25 (<0,1%) | 4,480 (1,3%) | 18,666 (5,5%) | 28 (<0,1%) | 2,010 (1,7%) |
Miscellaneous
- atomic theory, and Protagoras, who is credited with having invented the role of the professional sophistor teacher of "virtue".
- Thrace and in particular the Rhodope mountains, its northern mountainous part, is home to one of the two surviving brown bear (species Ursus arctos) populations in Greece (the other is in the Pindusmountains, in central Greece).
- The Greek-Turkish border is a major entering point of illegal immigrants from Asia (Syrians, Kurds, Afghans, Pakistanis) trying to enter Europe.[citation needed]
See also
- Northern Thrace
- Eastern Thrace
- Thrace
- Thracians
- List of Thracian Greeks
- Turks of Western Thrace
- Pomaks
- Muslim minority of Greece
- Provisional Government of Western Thrace
- Eastern Macedonia and Thrace
- Democritus University of Thrace
- The Holocaust in Bulgarian-occupied Greece
References
- ^ a b c d e "Announcement of the results of the 2011 Population Census for the Resident Population" (PDF). Piraeus: Hellenic Statistical Authority. 28 December 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
- ^ a b "Thrace - region, Europe". Encyclopedia Britannica.
- ^ Σαμσάρης, Δημήτριος Κ (14 January 1980). "Ο εξελληνισμός της Θράκης κατά την Ελληνική και Ρωμαϊκή αρχαιότητα". Archived from the original on 14 January 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2019 – via olympias.lib.uoi.gr.
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(help) - ^ D. C. Samsaris, Historical Geography of Western Thrace during the Roman Antiquity (in Greek), Thessaloniki 2005
- ^ "World War I Document Archive". wwi.lib.byu.edu.
- )
- ^ "Οι Πομάκοι στη Θράκη". www.patrides.com.
- ^ Magra, Iliana (8 December 2017). "No Turkish President Had Gone to Greece in 65 Years. So Why Now?". New York times. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
- ^ "Turkish president recognises Pomak element in Thrace, calls them 'compatriots'". News.In.gr. 8 December 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
- ^ "Eight answers to the questions about Erdogan's visit (Original title in Greek: Οκτώ απαντήσεις στις ερωτήσεις για την επίσκεψη Ερντογάν)". Huffington Post. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
- ^ "About good neighborly relations, Erdogan stressed from Thrace (Original title in Greek: Για καλή γειτονία Ελλάδας - Τουρκίας έκανε λόγο ο Ερντογάν από τη Θράκη)". The Editors' Newspaper. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
- ^ Bowman 2009, p. 16.
- ^ a b c d Vemund Aarbakke (2000). The muslim minority of Greek Thrace. Phd thesis / University of Bergen.
- ^ a b "St. Trifonov, Antantata v Trakija - 3". www.promacedonia.org.
- ^ Иван Алтънов, Междусъюзнишка Тракия, София 1921г. pg 35
- ^ L’Echo de Bulgarie, N 1963, 4 mai 1920.
- ^ Whitman 1990, 1
- ^ Öksüz 2004, 255.
- ^ Huseyinoglu, Ali (2012). The Development of Minority Education at the South-easternmost Corner of the EU: The Case of Muslim Turks in Western Thrace, Greece (PDF) (thesis). University of Sussex. p. 123. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
- ^ Kotzamanis, Byron. "Θράκη: εκατονταετία πληθυσμιακών ανακατατάξεων" (PDF). University of Thessaly. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
Bibliography
- Öksüz, Hikmet (2004), The Reasons for Immigration from Western Thrace to Turkey (1923-1950) (PDF), Turkish Review of Balkan Studies
- Whitman, Lois (1990), Destroying ethnic identity: the Turks of Greece, Human Rights Watch, ISBN 0-929692-70-5.
External links
- Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Archived 2005-05-29 at the Wayback Machine
- Combined Prefectural Authority of Drama, Kavala and Xanthi
- Combined Prefectural Authority of Rhodope and Evros Archived 2012-09-09 at archive.today
- Prefecture of Xanthi
- Thrakiki.gr
- Prefecture of Rhodope
- Prefecture of Evros Archived 2007-08-24 at the Wayback Machine
- Democritus University of Thrace
- Municipality of Feres