Regional Development

According to recent researches, Western Thrace demonstrates a desperate image as it is the least developed region all over the Europe


Firstly, the farmers have been facing some difficulties all the time such as:

•  Agricultural Credits are not given to Minority farmers. These credits are only for the majority farmers.

•  The Public Services inform the farmers via panels, seminars in the framework of the new agricultural policies. Minority farmers are never invited.

•  There are EU primes that are distributed to the farmers. Minority farmers face difficulties or barriers or he is paid late.

•  Until very recent Minority farmers were not given electricity for their agricultural enterprises.

•  Motor vehicles were not given for the farmers which were exempted of tax.

•  Minority farmers always voice up the separations on some special products that require license to produce, that they were not given.

•  The tobacco cultivation sector was at the control of the Minority farmers from the very beginning. The eastern type of tobacco is the one of the most effort requiring production and this is one of the main reasons that that this product is not preferred to be cultivated by the majority farmers and the monopoly of it has been left to Minority tobacco producers. Thrace is the only region that the tobacco producers are not organized by an organization. The non existence of a syndicate has left the area to many unfair treatments. At the last years immigrants that have arrived from ex-Soviet Union states, of Greek origin are settled to the area. The unemployment that these immigrants faced turned their attention to the tobacco production. And the production licenses are taken from the hands of the Minority producers and are given to the new arrived immigrants. This by its turn causes unemployment among the Minority members.

•  Before 1960'ies some public lands was given to the landless farmers to be cultivated. These lands were taken from them and they were given to majority farmers.

•  The government didn't recognized the Ottoman periods deed titles that existed at the hands of the Minority members and tried to take these lands.

•  The agricultural lands are redistributed by the force of law. The Turkish farmers are always afraid of these redistribution's because his past experience tells him that at the end he will have the less productive land.

The most important measures that was taken against Minority were the followings: 1st help to find customers to those who wanted to sell their land because of immigration, 2nd land nationalization, 3rd Different Barriers prepared for Minority members. For log times Greek Governments helped the majority members on Thrace to buy Minority members lands, buildings, real estate general .by supporting them with long term, low interest credits. These credits which were distributed secretly as they were a conspiracy, were named "National Scope Credits" These credits were helping the Minority members to sell quickly their lands and live out Thrace. This was the way that many real estate owning changed hands and passed from Minority to majority. Although some times some article were written in the local Greek newspapers about great misallocation, cheating, illegalities on these "National Scope Credits" it was never written anywhere and never publicized how much they earned to by the assets of the Turks. Because the issue is perceived as "National Secret" and uncovering it seems undesirable. By this way people that had no relationship with agriculture, become landowners of thousands of hectares of land in Thrace. It is said that these "National Scope" credits are not distributed anymore or that they are distributed infrequently and in small amounts. This policy, from one side accelerated the immigration and from the other side it increased the worker class in Thrace. 

The 1970'ies and 80'ies were the years that the Minority faced the harsher separations and oppressions at all. Grate infrastructure investments initiated at that decades (university campuses, industrial area, military campuses etc.) were built and they were built especially in the Minority lands that was nationalized. All the nationalization process was focused on lands owned by Turks. The amount of the lands that was paid to owners was far less from their real value. According to Minority the areas that were selected exceeding the real need was done on purpose. After 10 thousands hectares were nationalized, thousands of farmers were left without land. Although 15-25 years has passed through the nationalization process, much of the land is not used on the purpose it had been mentioned. Some of these empty lands has started to be rented to landless farmers of the majority. The last example of the nationalization that is easily understood that is a plan under an anti-minority startegy, was the project of an open-air agricultural jail that was going to be built on 14 thousands hectares of Turkish mostly land. This project was abolished in 1992 Mistsotakis government time.