European Western Thrace Turkish Federation reacts to former Defense Minister Frangos

The European Western Thrace Turkish Federation (ABTTF) reacted to the statements of the former chief of staff and former defense minister Frangoulis Frangos regarding the Turks of Western Thrace. In the statement made by the ABTTF, it was emphasized that Frangos ignored violations of minority education autonomy.

In the statement of the ABTTF, the following was recorded: “Former Defense Minister of Greece and Former Chief of General Staff, General Frangoulis Frangos, made statements about the Turkish society in Western Thrace in a program he attended on ERT 1 television.

Stating that there are 320 mosques and 99 minority primary schools operating in (Western) Thrace in the program, Frangos said that there are 3 primary schools in Istanbul and 1 primary school in Gökçeada, which belong to the Greek Orthodox minority, while there is no primary school in Bozcaada.

Halit Habipoğlu, President of the European Western Thrace Turkish Federation, said in a statement on the subject: “Former Defense Minister Frangos says that 99 primary schools are operating in Western Thrace today, but in the last 27 years, we have 132 schools in violation of our educational autonomy guaranteed by the 1923 Lausanne Treaty. He forgets that our primary schools are closed. Yes, while we had a total of 231 primary schools in the 1994-1995 academic year, we have only 99 primary schools today. While opening schools for only four students in line with the demand of the Greek Orthodox minority with whom we share the same fate in our homeland Gökçeada, our country closes our autonomous primary schools one by one every year, citing the insufficient number of students. Our country, which took away our educational autonomy with various laws and practices, does not comply with the provisions of the Treaty of Lausanne! On the other hand, Frangos refers to the minority in Istanbul, Gökçeada, and Bozcaada as the Greek minority, and we as the Muslim minority, although the Treaty of Lausanne mentions only the term "non-Muslim minorities". Then Frangos has to say that we living in Western Thrace are also a Turkish minority.”