Strait Talk: Turkish Muslims in Greece battle for recognition of their ethnic identity

One group in particular has had to bear the brunt of this pressure. The Turkish minority living inside Greece. Greece recognises them as a distinct minority. Omer Kablan reports

Strait Talk brings you the much-needed context to stories that are changing the world around us. It airs every Friday at 20:30 GMT on TRT World.

[ultrasgreen]

By Lausane Treaty Turkey was bound to protect the rights and well being of the Greek minority in Turkey. Greece was also obliged to do the same for its muslim minority.
Lets see:
Greek minority in Turkey 1922:70.000
Greek minority in Turkey 2020: 3000
Muslim minority in Greece 1922: 85.000
Muslim minority in Greece 2020: 120.000

Its obvious who protected its minority and who did not...

[anastasiossarikas]

I do not favor discrimination of any kind at all, but I cannot help but think back to the mid-50's when tens of thousands of the Greek minority in Istanbul/Constantinople were forced to abandon their homes and businesses in the face of concerted violence against them. The Greek citizens of Turkish identity in Komotini have it far, far better. No one has launched a pogrom against them as the Turks did to the Greeks in Istanbul and no one ever will. There have been centuries of mutual butchery. Give peace a chance

[VladTevez]

What about the Greeks of Constantinople who were forcibly deported, in violation of the Laussane Treaty? The agreement was that the Muslims (which not all are identify themselfes as turkish, but Pomaks, Gypsies etc.) of Western Thrace and the Greeks of Constantinople, Imbros and Tenedos would remain. There are less than 5.000 Greeks in Constantinople now...

[georgeevangel]

One must ask. How many Greeks are there in Turkey a nation of 80 million and how many ethnic Turks are there in all of Greece?

[NeoByzantine]

1923: 80.000 Turks in Thrace, now 125.000
1923: 120.000 Greeks in Constantinople, now 2.500
Who is struggeling? Propaganda TV

[billgerazounis]

“ Struggle for their ethnic identity”???. Tell that to the handful of Greeks left in modern turkey… While the turks of Greece have increased in population. You tell me who’s “struggling”.

[Charmedsweet]

NOT all muslims in western thrace are turks ! some are pomaks, some identify as greek, some are roma and some identify as both turkish and greek, labelling them all as turkish would be incorrect! within the minority, pomak, greek and roma muslims are pressured by the ethnic turks to identify as turkish and are even socially isolated for not doing so, who's pressuring who ? the muslim minority of Greece was a poor one, now most of them are of great fortune, owning nice cars and even whole apartment blocks. their children can enter our most prestigious universities with very low grades, christians have to be at the top of their class to achieve that. no problem with the muslims in thrace, but stop this erdogan-fueled propaganda. And remember, the greek minority in Turkey (which was really wealthy by the way) is non existent in Turkey today, they were elliminated by heavy taxation and pogroms

[jjgreek]

Can you do a video about what happened with the Greek majority in Imvros...you know, the mass rapes, the closure of Greek schools, the open prisons, the turning of churches into barns, etc etc...looking forward to your video

[Demetrius_Aurigenus]

I live in Komotini and i am Greek-Christian. The muslims here are not Turks. Most of them are Pomaks. They have Greek identity cards and are allowed to vote in Greece. Most of them are almost illiterate, not because the State does not provide them with education but because they don't like our Nation and our language so they don't study.
We treat them with exaggerated kindness. We let them have their own muslim teachers in Religious Education. They can pass to the next class in school with a lower mark than the average Greek student ( which is inequality against the Greeks ). Yet they refuse to speak Greek in public places such as in schools and they get really angry if someone tells them to stop doing so ( they don't have any excuse for this as all of them were born and grown up in Greece ), they don't identify themselves as Greeks and they still complain about "inequallity". Let's remember what happened to the Greeks of Constantinople, Smyrna, Pontus, Imbros and Tenedos: they were either slained or forced to abandon their homes. If we could gather in one place the Greek blood that was spilled by the Turks in the 20th century only, it could cover the entire Agean Sea. If these muslims want to be Turks, we won't hurt them. We will just remove from them the citizenship and their rights in Greece and send them back to Turkey, exactly what the Turks did with the Greeks of Constantinople with the difference that Constantinople is Greek but Western Thrace is not Turkish ( it was only under Ottoman rule. It was never originally and rightfully turkish ). They are just a Casus Belli for the Turks, a reason to have claims on Western Thrace.

[PASOKGLOBAL]

I have a question, how dare the Turkish media talk about 'discrimination' of the (very few) Turks in Greece after the genocide that they have done to Greeks and endless persecution of Christians in Anatolia, both Armenian and Greek. If they want to build a Mosque, build a mosque, if they want to express their identity, do it, most people won't have a problem. The media should look at what is happening to Christians in Turkey.

[arismars]

This is not a Turkish enclave. Is a greek city. Propaganda at its best.

[alishahid]

Why is it always a one way street with Muslims? Really annoys me. If you live in Greece and have Greek citizenship, you are Greek, not Turkish. If you want to be Turkish, then go to Turkey.

[hafizuddinmohdlowhim]

Will you cover the news of Turkish airforce violates Greece airspace everyday?

[theo]

They have their minority schools paid by the Greek state, where they are taught the Turkish language. They have their mosques. They elect three MPs in the Greek parliament. They are even allowed sharia courts for civil matters if they don;t want to go to proper civil courts like all Greek citizens. They are also EU CITIZENS WITH FULL RIGHTS !And AND THEY ARE THRIVING ALL THESE YEARS REACHING A NUMBER OVER 120 THOUSAND ! Better ask HOW MANY GREEKS ARE LEFT IN TURKEY !

[collateralresearch]

Even turks migrated from East Turkistan.. present day Xinjiang..

[CleversonSantos]

It is easy to solve it... those who consider themselves turks go back to turkey and those who dont are allowed to stay...

[nostro]

Irony joke of the year: *turks talking about human rights*

[justme-fesf]

If they are Turkish they know the way to Turkey. Greece sees them as equal Greek citizens which is a lot more that we can say Turkey has done for the Greek populations in Istanbul and Izmir

[wertGR]

Laussane Treaty mentions a Muslim Minority, not a Turkish one. This treaty was signed by Kemal and Turkish goverment. As long as Turkish republic exists they should honour their signature and stop provoking. People who cry out loud about Turkish signs and labels are on straight payroll from Turkish goverment, something not wise as they are still Greek citizens .

[mikeschannel]

As a Greek I feel ashamed. Everyone has the right to call themselves however they like. As long they don't insult greeks then I'm OK with it. I live in Germany and when I say I'm Greek no German comes to me and says "you're not Greek, you're German since you live here". Telling someone to be someone else they don't relate to, it's just shameful. Just because turkey doesn't recognize the Greek minority and if a Greek in turkey says he's Greek and he gets murdered doesn't mean we should do the same. My parents have many pomaks friends who have Turkish women and these women even learned to speak Greek and they feel more Greek than most greeks in Greece. Some Turkish greeks feel more Turkish than turks in turkey. Calling yourself a Greek or a turk is a human right no one can take away from you. Greetings and love to our Turkish brothers in Greece, turkey and anywhere in the world, from a Greek❤️🇬🇷🇹🇷