Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today that the problems of the "Turkish minority in Western Thrace" are Turkey's priority on the agenda of its dialogue with Greece and that Ankara will continue to take care of both "its countrymen" there, and for "usurped rights" to the Turkish Cypriots, reported the Turkish state TV TRT Haber, quoted by BTA.
Erdogan said this today to the deputies of the parliamentary group of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). The president and AKP leader said that Ankara is using the "developing dialogue" with Greece in the context of "protecting the rights of the Turkish minority in Western Thrace".
"During our meetings with the Greek authorities, the problems of our compatriots in Western Thrace are at the top of our agenda. In particular, we constantly monitor issues related to freedom of religion and worship and the right to education. We monitor all steps taken by Greece and intervene when necessary," he said, stressing that Turkey will continue to "keep the Turkish minority in Western Thrace under its wing".
In the Greek region of Western Thrace (in the northeastern part of the country, near the Turkish border) lives a significant and long-established minority, which Turkey defines as Turkish and Greece as Muslim, according to the Lausanne Peace Treaty, in which minorities are defined not ethnically, but on religious grounds. The problems of this minority in exercising its collective, civil and educational rights are one of the constant points of tension between the two countries.
Erdogan also emphasized today that Turkey plans to take care of the "usurped rights of the Turkish Cypriots" in the same way.
"Turkish Cypriots have been subjected to injustice, lawlessness and discrimination for almost three quarters of a century since the 1960s," Erdogan said.
"We can never forget the burned villages, the killed children, the tragedies of our Cypriot brothers and sisters who tried to squeeze into a territory of only 3 percent of the island. While all these atrocities were taking place, Western institutions and organizations did nothing. Just as they are watching the genocide in Gaza today, they also watched from afar the attempts to ethnically cleanse the Turkish Cypriots," Erdogan also said, four days after the 50th anniversary of the Turkish military operation in Cyprus on July 20.
In 1974, Greek Cypriot nationalists and the then ruling dictatorship in Athens wanted to unite Cyprus with Greece, leading to a military coup on the island. To prevent unification with Greece, Turkey intervened with military forces. Since then, the island has been divided.