THE ETHNIC TURKISH MINORITY IN WESTERN THRACE, GREECE

Abstract

In Greece there is an ethnic Turkish minority,1 whose religious affiliation is islam. The Turks are the most numerous (about 130,000) among the minorities in Greece although they are not the only one.2 The ethnic Turks are concentrated in a small (8578 sq. km.) Balkan territory called 'Western Thrace', which is bordered on the east by Turkey, on the west by the Greek part of Macedonia, on the north by Bulgaria and on the south by the Aegean Sea. The area stretches from the Maritza (Meriç) river in the east as far as the Mesta (Karasu) river in the west. The region includes the Rhodope mountains in the north. The Maritza river divides modern Thrace into the 'Eastern' (or Turkish) and the 'Western' (or Greek) portions. A part of Thrace is, then, within the borders of European Turkey.