DEB/FEP's far- right wing propaganda: What really happens in Thrace?

 

The far right wing minority politicians , members of the DEB/FEP's Party, once again distorts reality in Thrace reproducing the turkish propaganda , accusing their own country Greece, of violating the rights of the Muslim Minority in Thrace, via an old-fashionated video spreaded all over the social media platforms. What it does really happens?

As well as the numbers speak for themselves.

Greece, as a modern European democracy, pursues a coherent minority policy that promotes the Minority’s welfare. A Minority, which numbers approximately 120,000 members, the same number as when the Treaty of Lausanne was signed, which Turkey systematically invokes.The Greek Minority in Türkiye does not exceed 3,000 people, while the two minorities were equal in number at the time the Treaty of Lausanne was signed.

In Thrace, 311 public primary schools are in operation and currently 15,250 pupils (out of 16,455 pupils in 2020) are studying in these schools, irrespective of religion. At the same time, in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Lausanne and the relevant educational protocols, a total of 90 minority primary schools are in operation in Thrace, 47 in the Rhodope region, 34 in the Xanthi region and 9 in the Evros region, with 3,255 students (out of 4,542 students in 2020). According to the demographic indexes , the operation of both, public minority primary schools and other non-minority primary schools is suspended as well.Therefore, no one can claim discrimination against minority students.These figures clearly demonstrate that the Greek State’s educational choices are made on an equal basis and without discrimination for all Greek citizens, with the sole aim of providing a high-quality education for the benefit of the pupils themselves.

Due to the preferential treatment of minority schools, the activities of 19 state schools were suspended in 2023, while at the same time the activities of only 9 minority schools were suspended. If there was equal treatment between state and minority schools, the activities of 38 minority schools should have been suspended, not just 9. The ratio of state and minority schools in the region is also illuminating in this respect. In the Xanthi region there are 33 state primary schools with 5,185 pupils (average number of pupils per school is 157) and 34 minority primary schools with 1,388 pupils (average number of pupils per school is 41). In the Rhodope region there are 25 public primary schools with 3,268 pupils (with an average number of 131 pupils per school) and 47 minority primary schools with 1,603 pupils (with an average number of 34 pupils per school). In the Evros region there are 49 public primary schools with 6,172 pupils (with an average number of 126 pupils per school) and 9 minority primary schools with 264 pupils (with an average number of 29 pupils per school). Seventy per cent of the minority schools in Thrace are small minority schools (more specifically 62% of the minority schools in Xanthi region, 75% of the minority schools in Rhodope region and 78% of the minority schools in Evros region are small minority schools). On the other hand, only 7 per cent of public schools are small public schools.

Minority education enjoys many privileges. For example, for state schools the limit for suspension of school activities is 15 pupils (with one teacher per class), while for minority schools the limit is 9 pupils (with two teachers per class). Minority schools not only operate with twice as many teachers as public schools, but are further strengthened with more teaching staff. Thus, many minority schools are still in operation when they should have been suspended. At the same time, if we compare the minority schools with the state schools, which face a shortage of pupils, we clearly see that the minority schools operate with more classes. For example, in Likion Minority Primary School (with 43 pupils), the first grade operates with only two pupils (if it were a public school, the first grade would have to be combined with the second grade). In the Minority Primary School in Chrysa (44 pupils), the first class operates separately with 4 pupils and the second class with 5 pupils (again, if it were a public school, the classes should have been combined).

The Greek State fully covers the transport costs of pupils and the running costs (including cleaning) of minority schools. However, this funding is administered by the respective councillor committees, whose members are elected (and elected) by the parents. This also has a clear impact on the equipment of minority schools, ultimately making some minority schools superior to state schools in terms of equipment. For example, the 1st Minority primary school of Komotini (10 classes) has 12 interactive smart boards, while the 4th State primary school of the same town (12 classes) has just received its first interactive smart board.

As a result, given that the average number of pupils per school in minority schools is 35 pupils (while the average number of pupils per school in state schools is 147), it is clear that minority education in Thrace has been overfunded for decades. For example, in the academic year 2021-2022, the total expenditure of minority schools was 3,800 euros per student, while the total expenditure of state primary schools in Thrace was 3,200 euros per student. In all this, tens of millions of euros of the "Education of the children of the Muslim minority in Thrace" programme, known as Frangoudaki-Dragona, should be included.

Turkey should put an end to its misleading rhetoric and acknowledge the reality demonstrating that the Muslim Minority in Thrace, living in a free, democratic European country, enjoys fully its freedoms and rights, as do all Greek citizens.On the contrary, the very few schools of the Greek minority in Turkey bear witness to the violent and systematic uprooting of Greeks from their ancestral lands. It is astonishing how it invokes Lausanne and speaks of its violation by Greece, when in Istanbul, Gökçeada (Imbros), and Bozcaada (Tenedos), the Greek Minority numbers less than 3,000 people, whereas at the time of the signing of the Treaty it numbered around 130,000.Only three (3) schools operate in Istanbul, one (1) in Gökçeada (Imbros) and not even one in Bozcaada (Tenedos).