Greece closes 8 Turkish minority schools in 2026-27, Treaty of Lausanne violation alleged

Mustafa Trampa, chairman of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority Advisory Council and elected mufti of Xanthi, announced that a total of 8 Turkish minority primary schools—5 in Rhodope, 2 in Xanthi, and 1 in Evros—have had their operations suspended for the 2026-2027 academic year.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Trampa stressed that despite the measure being formally described as "temporary," the schools have effectively closed and this situation is narrowing the community's room for action. Trampa argued that minority education holds a special status rooted in the Treaty of Lausanne, bilateral agreements, and international law, and that the closure decisions are incompatible with this status.

Drawing attention to the role these institutions—which provide instruction in Turkish and Greek—play in transmitting the minority's language, religion, and cultural identity to future generations, Trampa warned that when the schools close, this function will also disappear.

Minority schools in Western Thrace have historically carried special status under the minority rights provisions of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne; in previous periods, decisions to merge and close schools have also been raised on grounds of declining student numbers, and Turkey has protested these decisions each time through diplomatic channels.