By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk
Türkiye has condemned Greece's decision to suspend eight more primary schools serving the Turkish minority in Western Thrace, saying the number of operating minority schools in the region has fallen to 76.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Öncü Keçeli said Greece was using insufficient student numbers as a pretext to weaken the minority's right to education. The ministry also accused Greek authorities of placing new obstacles before first-grade enrolment at the 1st Turkish Minority Primary School in Xanthi.
Ankara described the measures as part of a systematic policy and said they violated Greece's obligations under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and international standards governing minority rights.
The Greek decision uses the administrative designation of suspension rather than permanent abolition. Athens maintains that schools placed under suspension may reopen if enrolment rises and applies similar demographic criteria to other schools across the region.
Türkiye and minority representatives reject that distinction, arguing that suspensions maintained across successive academic years remove schools from the community in practice even when they remain formally part of the education system.
The dispute also concerns whether minority schools established under a distinct legal framework can be administered according to the same enrolment thresholds applied to ordinary state schools.
Greece officially recognises a Muslim minority in Western Thrace under the Treaty of Lausanne, while Türkiye and much of the community refer to it as the Turkish minority. The competing definitions shape disputes over education, religious administration and the community's right to describe its collective identity.
Athens defended its position in a note submitted to the United Nations earlier this year, maintaining that Lausanne recognises a religious minority rather than an ethnic Turkish one and rejecting Turkish criticism of its policies on minority institutions, as Bosphorus News previously reported.
Although Greece classifies the measures as reversible administrative suspensions, keeping minority schools inactive across successive academic years has steadily reduced the community's functioning education network.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry called on Greece to reverse the measures, respect the minority's educational rights and address the dispute through consultation with the community.
Sources: Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Greek official education decision, Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha/AFP, Bosphorus News reporting and review