Muslim minority of Greece

In Islam, homosexuality is a grave sin that is believed to incur the wrath of Allah. In some strict Islamic countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, punishments such as flogging, stoning, and burning at the stake are prescribed.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will head to Thrace after his visit to Athens in early December, as he does every time he visits Greece, before returning to Ankara.

This will be the third time Erdogan will visit Thrace during a visit to Greece.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has claimed that the "problems of Western Thrace" was the "main issue" he raised with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at their meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius on Wednesday.

In Greece, where we are proud of the Rum in Istanbul and the ethnic Greeks of Himare in southern Albania, we freak out when we hear about a Turkish minority in Thrace. So much so that various politicians - usually from the right - are setting dangerous precedents for the country.

A Muslim in Athens praying in a new mosque, the first official place of worship for Muslims in Athens, 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/ORESTI PANAGIOTOU

The letter focuses on its educational and religious problems and its legal harassment for use of the word "Turkish".

Mustafa Trampa has been elected as the new religious leader, mufti, of Xanthi by the Turks of the Western Thrace region on Sept. 9, amid the ongoing pressure on the Greek government for over 30 years.

By George Gilson

Now the Muslim minority in Thrace numbers approximately 120,000 members while the Greek minority in Turkey has shrunk to only 3,000

Turkey condemned the decision of Greece for closing 12 more primary schools belonging to the Western Thrace Turkish minority, "using austerity measures and the insufficient number of students as an excuse."

class='cf'>

Turkey on June 17 condemned a Greek court's decision to sentence the elected mufti, or Muslim official, of the city of Xanthi to time in prison with a three-year deferment of the sentence.  

A criminal court in the city of Thessaloniki sentenced Ahmet Mete to 15 months in prison for "disrupting public order by sowing public discord."