Greece’s pressure on Western Thrace Turkish Minority Education continues
The School Committee of the İskeçe Turkish Minority Secondary and High School has announced that, by order of the Greek Ministry of Education, its members have been denied entry to their own school, despite being its legal administrators. Attempts to resolve the matter through meetings with officials have so far yielded no results.
In a public statement, the Committee condemned the measure as repressive, undemocratic, and unlawful.
The statement read in part:
“The Western Thrace Turkish Minority faces yet another repressive and anti-democratic measure in the field of education. During renovation works this summer, our Committee’s office was emptied, and now, as legal administrators, we are not even allowed to enter the school we manage. This action, reportedly carried out on instructions from the Ministry of Education, is a blatant violation of law and democratic principles. Committee institutions are being deliberately sidelined, and their institutional identity is being targeted for destruction. We cannot accept this.”
The Committee stressed that School Committees are the legally recognized governing bodies of minority schools in Western Thrace, deriving their authority from law and the Lausanne Treaty. It noted that similar practices are not applied to Istanbul’s Greek minority schools, questioning the double standard.
The statement further underlined that these restrictions aim to create an image of “conflict and disorder” within minority schools, discouraging students and weakening the institution. It declared that, regardless of obstacles, the Committee would continue to defend minority education and protect students’ rights.
Finally, the Committee called on authorities to immediately lift the ban, end arbitrary restrictions, and respect the legal rights of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority:
“We reject these repressive practices and urge all officials to act in accordance with the spirit of the Lausanne Treaty, the rule of law, and democratic values, and to listen to the voice of the İskeçe Minority Secondary and High School Committee.”
