Turks of Western Thrace

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Turks of Western Thrace
Batı Trakya Türkleri
Τούρκοι της Δυτικής Θράκης
Total population
50,000–120,000
Regions with significant populations
Western Thrace
Languages
Turkish, Greek
Religion
mostly Sunni Islam, minority Alevism[1]
Related ethnic groups
Turks
The region of Thrace. West Thrace
West Thrace Republic voluntary Turkish soldiers in Kardzali Streets, 1913
Part of a series of articles on
Turkish people
People
Population
Traditional Areas of Turkish Settlement

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History
Culture
Languages
Religion

Turks of Western Thrace (

East Macedonia and Thrace in Northern Greece
.

According to the Greek census of 1991, there were approximately 50,000 of Turkish origin in Western Thrace, out of the approximately 98,000 strong

Muslim Roma people of the same region, counting 35% and 15% of the Muslim minority respectively.[5][6]

Due to the multiethnic character of the

East Macedonia and Thrace
and the obligations towards them.

Western Thracian Turkish band Balkanatolia (2006)

History

See also: Ottoman Greece, Provisional Government of Western Thrace, and Population exchange between Greece and Turkey

Parts of Western Thrace were overrun by the expanding

Lausanne Treaty. However, since 1923, between 300,000 and 400,000 Turks have left Western Thrace most of which have immigrated to Turkey.[9][10] 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.

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:[11]

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 according to the Ottoman system of classifying people depending on religion, while in other occasions was specified separately. On the other hand, according to the Bulgarian view, they are considered "Bulgarian Muslims" and an integral part of the Bulgarian nation.[11]

According to the Turkish thesis, as it was presented at Lausanne Peace Conference (1920), the general distribution of population in Western Thrace was as follows:[12]

Turkish thesis on the General Distribution of Population in Western Thrace in 1920 (before the population exchange)[12]
Cities Turks Greeks Bulgarians Jews Armenians Total
Komotini 59,967 (74.8%) 8,834 (11%) 9,997 (12.5%) 1,007 (1.3%) 360 (0.4%) 80,165 (100%)
Alexandroupolis 11,744 (42.7%) 4,800 (17.5%) 10,227 (37.2%) 253 (0.9%) 449 (1.6%) 27,473 (100%)
Soufli 14,736 (46.4%) 11,542 (36.3%) 5,490 (17.3%) – – 31,768 (100%)
Xanthi 42,671 (81.7%) 8,728 (16.7%) 522 (1%) 220 (0.4%) 114 (0.2%) 52,255 (100%)
Total 129,120 (67.4%) 33,910 (17.7%) 26,266 (13.7%) 1,480 (0.8%) 923 (0.5%) 191,699 (100%)

During Ottoman rule before 1912, Greeks constituted a minority in the region of

Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922), the Greek genocide and the subsequent population exchange between Greece and Turkey.[14] Of all Greek Asia Minor refugees (around 1.2 million),[15] 8% of them were resettled in Western Thrace.[16]
The Greek government's reason to settle the refugees in this region was to strengthen the Greek presence in the newly acquired provinces and the homogenization of the population.[16] The Greek government especially resettled the refugees in Komotini, Xanthi and Sapes regions where the majority of Muslim Turks lived.[16]

General Distribution of Population in Western Thrace in 1923, presented by the Greek delegation in Laussane (after the relocation of Asia Minor refugees)[16]
Districts Total Total Greeks Local Greeks Relocated Greek refugees Turks Bulgarians Jews Armenians
Komotini 104,108 45,516 11,386 33,770 50,081 6,609 1,112 1,183
Alexandroupolis 38,553 26,856 9,228 17,518 2,705 9,102 –
Soufli 32,299 25,758 11,517 14,211 5,454 1,117 – –
Xanthi 64,744 36,859 18,249 18,613 27,882 – –
Didymoteicho 34,621 31,408 21,759 9,649 3,213 – – –
Orestiada 39,386 33,764 22,087 11,677 6,072 – – –
Total 314,235 199,664 (63.5%) 94,226 (30.0%) 105,438 (33.6%) 95,407 (30.4%) 16,828 (5.4%) 1,112 (0.4%) 1,183 (0.4%)

Demographics

See also: Demographics of Greece

The Turkish community has a strong presence in the

Evros prefecture, the closest to the international boundary with Turkey. According to estimates, Muslims as a whole, represented 36–38% of the Rhodopi Department population, 12–24% in the Xanthi Department and less than 5% in the Evros Department.[17]

Culture

Language

See also: Languages of Greece

According to

East Macedonia and Thrace.[18] However, the Greek language is also widely used.[citation needed
]

The Muslims of Western Thrace between 1919–1995[19]
Census/ statistics Total Turks Pomaks Roma Others
Bulgarian 1919 (A) 96,908 79,539 17,369 – –
Bulgarian 1919 (B) 98.035 77,726 20,309 – –
French 1920 86,578 74,730 11,848 – –
Greek 1920 3rd version 100,491 93,522 6,969 – –
Greek official 1928 102,621 84,585 16,740 <1,023 ?
Greek official 1951 105,092 85,945 18,664 303 180
Turkish MFA (1995) 150,000 ? ? ? ?
Greek MFA (1995) 120,000 ~60,000 ~42,000 ~18,000 -

Obligations of the Treaty of Lausanne

Article 37 through 45 of the

Lausanne Treaty set forth the obligations of the Greek and Turkish governments to protect the Turkish and Greek minorities in their territories. Each country agreed to provide the following:[20]

  • Protection of life and liberty without regard to birth, nationality, language, race or religion
  • Free exercise of religion
  • Freedom of movement and of emigration
  • Equality before the law
  • The same civil and political rights enjoyed by the majority
  • Free use of language in private, in commerce, in religion, the press and publications, at public meetings and in the courts
  • The right to establish and control charitable, religious and social institutions and schools
  • Primary schools in which instruction is given in both languages
  • Full protection for religious establishments and pious foundation

The Lausanne Treaty defined the rights of the Muslim communities in Western Thrace, on the basis of religion, not ethnicity, as well as maintained a balance between the minority communities of both countries (Turks in Greece and

Varlik Vergisi), a minority that is nearly eliminated today (from 70,000 in 1923 to 3,000 in 2000).[21]

Politics

Members of the Greek Parliament

In 1990 a new electoral law was enacted in Greece, which set a threshold of at least 3% of the nationwide vote for a party to be represented in the parliament. Consequently, independent Turkish MPs were barred from election at the 1993 elections. Since then the Turkish minority in the Hellenic Parliament has been represented by Turkish deputies belonging to nationwide political parties, and the Party of Friendship, Equality and Peace, which succeeded the Independent Muslim List in 1991, practically disappeared from the electoral scene.[22]

Turkish MPs from Rhodopi and Xanthi[22]
election elected Turkish MPs
1989 (June)
 Sadik Achmet (Independent Muslim List)
1989 (November)
 Ismail Molla (Independent Muslim List)
1990
 Sadik Achmet, Achmet Faikoglou (Independent Muslim List)
1993
 none
1996
PASOK, architect),[23] Birol Akifoglou
(ND)
2000
 Galip Galip (PASOK), Mechmet Achmet (PASOK; Mechmet Achmet, already elected in 1981, was not directly elected in 2000, but he acted so that the elected MP, Hrissa Manolia, was forced to abandon her seat because she had not relinquished her other political mandate at the local level)[22]
2004
 Ilchan Achmet (New Democracy, lawyer)
2007
Achmet Chatziosman
(PASOK)
2009
 Tsetin Mantatzi (PASOK), Achmet Chatziosman (PASOK)
2012
Syriza, dentist), Chousein Zeimpek (Syriza, pharmacist), Achmet Chatziosman (PASOK)[24]
2015
Syriza) [6]
.

Xanthi: Chousein Zeimpek (Syriza) [7]

Greek legislative election, 2009

There are presently two Turkish MPs from the Western Thrace portion of

Achmet Chatziosman (Rhodope), former president (1999–2007) of the Party of Friendship, Equality and Peace created by former (1989) MP Sadik Achmet in 1991.[25]

At least 14 candidates from the Turkish minority have been nominated, mainly in Rhodope and Xanthi.[26]

For New Democracy, former MP (2004–2007) Ilchan Achmet and Achmet Achmet are candidates in Rhodope,[27] and in Xanthi Aisel Zeimpek and Achmet Mpountour.[28] Zeimpek had lost her Greek citizenship under Article 19 of the Greek Citizenship Code, which allowed of its revocation for non-ethnic Greeks who left the country.[29] After a lengthy legal battle, she finally won her case with a second appeal before the European Court of Human Rights and re-secured her Greek citizenship in 2001.

For PASOK, Tsetin Mantatzi and Seval Osmanoglou are among the 5 candidates in Xanthi, Rintvan Kotzamoumin and Achmet Chatziosman among the 5 in Rhodope.[30]

For the KKE (which presently has no MP in Xanthi or Rhodope), Faik Faik in Rhodope and Chasan Efendi in Xanthi.

For SYRIZA (which presently has no MP in Xanthi or Rhodope), Chasan Malkots and Chousein Zeimpek are candidates in Xanthi,

Moustafa Moustafa (former MP) and Tzelalentin Giourtsou.[33]

European Parliament Elections

  Turkish minority's Party of Friendship, Equality and Peace emerged as the first party in Xanthi and Rhodope in 2019 European Parliament elections.

In 2014 and 2019 European Parliament election in Greece, Party of Friendship, Equality and Peace (DEB) has emerged as the first party in Xanthi and Rhodope regional units, under Moustafa Ali Tsavous, and most currently under Tsidem Asafoglou, respectively. In 2019 elections, DEB received 38% of the votes in Xanthi regional unit and 25.24% of the votes in Rhodope regional unit.[34] DEB also received 1.30% of the votes in Evros regional unit. While in the overall region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, the party came in as the 3rd biggest party after top 2 national parties New Democracy and Syriza.[citation needed]

Human rights issues

See also: Human rights in Greece

Citizenship

According to the former Article 19 of the 1955 Citizenship Law (No. 3370), a person of non-Greek ethnic origin leaving Greece without the intention of returning may be declared as having lost Greek nationality. According to the Greek government, between 1955 and 1998, approximately 60,000 Greek Muslim individuals, predominantly Turkish, were deprived of their citizenship under Article 19. Of these 60,000, approximately 7,182 lost their citizenship between 1981 and 1997.[35] The application of this law to the Turks of Western Thrace was a retaliatory measure in response to the devastating state-sponsored pogrom which targeted the Greeks of Istanbul in September 1955.[36] The pogrom precipitated an exodus of ethnic Greeks from Turkey. Article 19 was repealed in 1998, though not retroactively.[35]

Ethnic identity

Since the Treaty of Lausanne used the criterion of religion to refer to the ethnic communities, the Greek Government has usually insisted that the basis of identification of a minority is religious and not ethnic (or national).

refugees during the Turkish invasion in 1974. The Greek government declared that it was a measure to avert the possibility of the Greek region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace becoming a "second Cyprus" sometime in the future or of being ceded to Turkey on the basis of the ethnic origin of its Muslim inhabitants.[41]

Greek courts have also outlawed the use of the word 'Turkish' to describe the Turkish community. In 1988, the Greek Supreme Court affirmed a 1986 decision of the Court of Appeals of Thrace in which the Union of Turkish Associations of Western Thrace was ordered closed. The court held that the use of the word 'Turkish' referred to citizens of Turkey, and could not be used to describe citizens of Greece; the use of the word 'Turkish' to describe Greek Muslims was held to endanger public order.[42] This led to about 10,000 people demonstrating against the decision in Western Thrace. According to members of the Turkish minority, it was the first time ethnic Turks had taken to the streets.[43]

Freedom of expression

More than 10 newspapers are issued in the Turkish language. According to some sources, newspapers, magazines and books published in Turkey are not allowed entry into Western Thrace,[44] and Turkish television and radio stations are sometimes jammed.[45] According to other sources, the minority has full and independent access to its own newspapers radio, television, and other written media coming from Turkey, regardless of their content.[46]

Religious freedom

According to the Treaty of Lausanne, the Muslim minority is entitled to

muftis (this chief religious officers), and by efforts to control the Turkish communities charitable foundations.[48]
According to another source, more than five new mosques are being built in the prefecture of Xanthi alone and 19 new mosques are being built in the prefecture of Rhodope alone, while in the same prefecture the number of mosques exceeds 160.[49]

Incidents

According to a report by a local organization there have been frequent (six in 2010 and three in the first months of 2011) attacks against the private and public property of Turks in Western Thrace. Among the recent incidents are three in 2010 (in Kahveci, Kırmahalle, Popos and Ifestos at Komotini) where attackers desecrated Turkish cemeteries and broke tombstones. There were also attacks against mosques, Turkish associations and Turkish consulates, attackers used methods like throwing stones, molotov bombs and damaging buildings.[50][51][52][53][54]

Migration

Diaspora

Western Thrace Foundation Mosque in Zeytinburnu, Istanbul

Between 300,000 and 400,000 Turks have left Western Thrace since 1923; most of them immigrated to Turkey.[9][10] Western Thrace Turks have also immigrated to Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Austria and Italy. Thus, overall there are an estimated 1 million Turks whose roots are from Western Thrace.[55]

Europe

It is estimated that there are between 25,000 and 40,000 Western Thrace Turks living in Western Europe.[56][57]

Germany

See also: Turks in Germany

There are some members of the Greek Muslim community among the some 350,000 Greeks living in Germany who are Turks or who espouse a Turkish identity.[58] The majority of Turks immigrated from Western Thrace.[59] In the 1960s and 1970s, the Thracian tobacco industry was affected by a severe crisis and many tobacco growers lost their income. This resulted in many Turks leaving their homes and immigrating to Germany with estimates suggesting that today there are now between 12,000[60] and 25,000[61] residing in Germany.

Netherlands

See also: Turks in the Netherlands

A minority of Western Thrace Turks can be found in the Netherlands, especially in the Randstad region; after Germany, the Netherlands is the most popular destination for Turkish immigrants.[62]

United Kingdom

See also:
Turks in London

There are an estimated 600–700 Western Thrace Turks living in London although this does not include those who are British-born. The total number living outside London is unknown.[62] However even their small number, Western Thrace Turks in the UK have their own community (Association of Western Thrace Turks UK)[63]

Notable people

See also

References

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  2. ^ Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "The Muslim Minority of Greek Thrace". Retrieved 2010-01-20.
  3. ^ a b Whitman 1990, i.
  4. ^ Levinson 1998, 41.
  5. ^ Υπουργείο Εξωτερικών, Υπηρεσία Ενημέρωσης: Μουσουλμάνικη μειονότητα Θράκης
  6. ^ Greek Helsinki Monitor: Religious freedom in Greece
  7. ^ Ataöv 1992, 90.
  8. ^ Panayi 1999, 51.
  9. ^ a b Hirschon 2003, 107.
  10. ^ a b Whitman 1990, 2.
  11. ^ a b Vemund Aarbakke (2000). The muslim minority of Greek Thrace. Phd thesis / University of Bergen.
  12. ^ a b Öksüz 2004, 255.
  13. ^ 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). University of Sussex. pp. 121–122. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  14. ISBN 9781850657026
    . led directly to the flight of the Greek refugees from Asia Minor, the compulsory exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey
  15. ISBN 1-57607-796-9
    . The total number of Christians who fled to Greece was probably in the region of I.2 million with the main wave occurring in 1922 before the signing of the convention. According to the official records of the Mixed Commission set up to monitor the movements, the "Greeks' who were transferred after 1923 numbered 189,916 and the number of Muslims expelled to Turkey was 355,635 [Ladas I932, 438–439; but using the same source Eddy 1931, 201 states that the post-1923 exchange involved 192,356 Greeks from Turkey and 354,647 Muslims from Greece.
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  19. ^ Old and New Islam in Greece: From Historical Minorities to Immigrant Newcomers, Konstantinos Tsitselikis, page 568-569, 2012
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  21. ^ Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe: p. 8–9
  22. ^ a b c Hersant, Jeanne; Yatropoulos, Nepheli (August 2009). "Mobilisation identitaire et représentation politique des 'Turcs' en Thrace occidentale: les élections législatives grecques de mars 2004". European Journal of Turkish Studies (in French). Retrieved 2010-08-04.
  23. ^ son of the former MP Hajihafuz Ali Galip Sampachedin
  24. ^ Tsetin Mantatzi, who was running as an independent after having been expelled with other anti-debt plan dissenters from the PASOK, was not reelected
  25. ^ Βιογραφικά – ΟΣΜΑΝ ΑΧΜΕΤ ΧΑΤΖΗ, ΒΟΥΛΕΥΤΗΣ ΡΟΔΟΠΗΣ, ΣΗΜΑ ΤΟΥ ΠΑΝΕΛΛΗΝΙΟΥ ΣΟΣΙΑΛΙΣΤΙΚΟΥ ΚΙΝΗΜΑΤΟΣ Archived 2009-09-07 at the Wayback Machine, Βουλή των Ελλήνων, accessed on September 24, 2009
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  27. ^ candidates for the Rodopi circonscription, website of New Democracy, accessed on September 24, 2009
  28. ^ candidates for the Xanthi circonscription, website of New Democracy, accessed on September 24, 2009
  29. ^ Harassment of Aysel Zeybek and The Responses, The Balkan Human Rights Web Pages, accessed on September 24, 2009
  30. ^ (in Turkish) Chasan Chatzi, PASOK, Türk milletvekili adaylarını, Rodop Rüzgârı, September 10, 2009, accessed on September 25, 2009
  31. ^ ΞΑΝΘΗΣ Νομός ΞΑΝΘΗΣ – Υποψήφιοι
  32. ^ ΡΟΔΟΠΗΣ Νομός ΡΟΔΟΠΗΣ – Υποψήφιοι
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  36. S2CID 153877386
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  37. ^ Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe: p. 6
  38. ^ Whitman 1990, 14.
  39. ^ Whitman 1990, 15.
  40. ^ Madianou 2005, 34.
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  42. ^ Whitman 1990, 16.
  43. ^ Whitman 1990, 17.
  44. ^ Karpat 2002, 537.
  45. ^ Whitman 1990, 24.
  46. ^ Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe: p. 10, 16
  47. ^ Whitman 1990, 26
  48. ^ Whitman 1990, 27.
  49. ^ Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe: p. 10, 13
  50. ^ Parallel Report by Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe on the 2010 Human Rights Report: Greece 8 April 2011 [1]
  51. ^ Vandals desecrate Turkish graves in Greece, police say Hürriyet Daily News, 15 August 2010 [2]
  52. ^ Muslim Cemetery in Komotini Vandalized Greek Reporter, 15 August 2010 [3]
  53. ^ Desecrations of cemeteries are hate crimes that exacerbate intolerance Council of Europe, 30 December 2010 [4]
  54. ^ July–December, 2010 International Religious Freedom Report, Greece, US Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor [5]
  55. ^ Kultur. "BATI TRAKYA TÜRK EDEBİYATI". Retrieved 2010-05-20.
  56. ^ Şentürk 2008, 420.
  57. ^ Witten Batı Trakya Türkleri Yardımlaşma ve Dayanışma Derneği. "Batı Trakya'da "Aynı Gökyüzü Altında" bir Güldeste". Retrieved 2010-05-20.
  58. ^ Westerlund & Svanberg 1999, 320–321.
  59. ^ Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly 2007, 118.
  60. ^ Clogg 2002, 84.
  61. ^ International Assembly of Western Thrace Turks. "POLITICAL AND CIVIL ORGANISATION COMMISSION". Retrieved 2010-05-19.
  62. ^ a b Şentürk 2008, 427.
  63. ^ Official website of Association of Western Thrace Turks in UK
  64. ^ "Turkey criticizes Greece for convicting Muslim clerics". Hurriyet Daily News. 2017. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
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Bibliography

External links
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