The Muslim minority of Greece is the only explicitly recognized minority in Greece. It numbers 97,605 people or 0.91% of the total population, according to the 1991 census, and 140,000 people or 1.24% of the total population, according to the United States Department of State.
Like other parts of the southern Balkans that experienced centuries of Ottoman rule the Muslim minority of mainly Western Thrace in Northern Greece consists of several ethnic groups, some being Turkish and some Bulgarian-speaking Pomaks, with smaller numbers descended from Ottoman-era Greek converts to Islam. The precise identity of the these groups is in contention with Turkey insisting that most Muslims in Western Thrace are ethnically Turkish, and Greece claiming many are Pomak and others of local origin who converted to Islam and adopted the Turkish language and identity in the Ottoman period. These arguments have territorial overtones, since the self-identity of the Muslims in Western Thrace could conceivably support territorial claims to the region by Turkey.
Additionally, Turkey maintains that the concerns of the Muslim minority in Greece’s Thrace region, and now other minority groups not covered by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, remain at the forefront of its agenda.
The homes and workplaces of Greeks and other non-Muslim communities had been located by the mobs beforehand ... Even though the biggest victims of the pogrom were the Greeks, all non-Muslim minorities were targeted..
Greek diplomatic sources on Wednesday reacted to Turkish PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks about the Muslim minority in Thrace, emphasizing that minority members enjoy equality before the law and that their rights are fully respected.
Greek diplomatic sources responded on Wednesday to Erdogan’s comments on the Muslim minority in Thrace, stating that minority members enjoy equality before the law and their rights are fully respected.
By 1912 the Greek army liberated Thessaloniki from Ottoman rule and a slow, steady exodus of Bulgarian, Jewish, and Muslim citizens transformed Thessaloniki once more.
Turkey’s PresidentErdogan has previously hinted that the seminary may be reopened if the Greek authorities improve the conditions of Muslim minorities in Western Thrace, a region populated by ...
While Mitsotakis once again ignored the Turkish minority in Western Thrace and insistently used the term “Muslim” minority, it was ironic that he claimed that Turks have equal rights and ...
Minority Rights and Cultural Heritage.. Mitsotakis raised concerns about the Greek Muslim minority in Thrace, emphasizing the importance of upholding their rights as defined by the Lausanne Treaty.
Responding to this statement, Mitsotakis said that Greece considers the active presence of the Muslim minority in Greek politics “as our success” and said he hoped the same would apply for the Orthodox Christian minority in Turkey.
As I have already emphasized, the characterization of the minority as religious is expressly provided for in the Treaty of Lausanne, while the practical interest of the Greek state in the well-being ...
... to visit 10 Greek islands without cumbersome visa procedures ... Similarly, Erdogan referred to the Turkish-Muslim minority in Greece’s Thrace region as a “friendship bridge between the two communities.”.
The Muslim minority “began to breathe again” from 1990 onward, and even more so later, with the law of then education minister (and later prime minister) George Papandreou that allowed them to send their children to Greek universities though a quota.
“During its planning, we took into account both the needs of modern Greek society for communication, mutual respect and conciliation, as well as the right of Greek citizens, Muslim and non-Muslim, to specialize in the study of Islam.
About 70 worshipers — a mix of visiting tourists from Turkey, members of Greece’s Muslim minority, overseas students studying in Thessaloniki and refugees who now call the northern Greek city home — attended the Eid prayers.
However, in the isolated hills around Trabzon, snippets of the ancient Greek language managed to live on among some Muslim communities. ... “Romeyka is a sister, rather than a daughter, of Modern Greek,” added Professor Sitaridou. .
Chicago Tribune
13 May 2024
Chicago Tribune
13 May 2024