Muslim minority of Greece

Greece and Turkey exchanged criticisms over minority rights on Wednesday with Athens saying that it is "paradoxical, if not funny" for Turkey to lecture Greece about the need to respect minority rights.

Turkey has accused Greece of oppressing the members of its Muslim community in western Thrace, while slamming the European Union for allegedly tolerating the "systematic violation of human rights" in the country.

The village community of Echinos in the regional unit of Thrace, northern Greece, was placed on lockdown as of Wednesday afternoon after health authorities recorded an unusually high number of coronavirus infections.

Athens on Tuesday rebuffed comments by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu who referred to the Muslim minority in Western Thrace as a "Turkish minority."

Top Turkish officials on Feb. 18 slammed Greece's president for mislabeling the Muslim Turkish minority in a region of Greece bordering Turkey as a "Greek Muslim minority".

Greece does not consult with the Muslim minority living in its northeastern provinces on affairs that concern it, the leader of the Muslim minority's party said in an interview with Turkey's Anadolu Agency published on Friday.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Saturday issued a statement expressing objections to a recent Greek presidential decree stating that the religious leaders of the Muslim minority in northern Greece will be appointed by the state instead of being elected.

Turkey on June 21 decried a decision by Greece that local religious leaders, known as muftis, among the Turkish minority living in the Western Thrace would henceforth be appointed by the state instead of being elected by the local people.         

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has criticized Greece of failing to uphold the rights of its Muslim minority in Western Thrace and of forbidding its members to call themselves "Turks."

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu denounced Greece Friday, claiming it doesn't uphold the rights of the Muslim minority in Western Thrace and doesn't allow its members to call themselves "Turks."