Greece’s Muslim Turkish minority set to elect new religious leader

XANTHI, Greece

In defiance of state intervention, Greece’s 150,000-strong Muslim Turkish minority is set to elect their new religious leader. 

The elections -- in which two candidates, Mustafa Trampa and Mustafa Kamo, are running -- will be held following Friday prayer in Xanthi province of the Western Thrace.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Trampa stressed the Lausanne Treaty of 1923 gave rights to the Turkish minority to elect their religious leaders (mufti) freely.

"This right of ours however has been grabbed by the Greek state," he said.

Referring to the latest government regulation on the matter, Trampa maintained that it was far from meeting the demands of the minority.

“Such regulations which contradict the minority’s basic rights and freedom are unacceptable to us,” he said.

Friday’s election will manifest the minority’s rejection of the new regulation and the state intervention on the matter in general, Trampa noted.

Religious leaders, not only as religious authorities but also as historical social and cultural entities, are crucial to the minority, Trampa highlighted.

Kamo, for his part, agreed with Trampa on the importance of the religious leaders in the Western Thrace. ​​​​​​​

Türkiye has repeatedly urged Greece to respect the rights of the Turkish minority in its Western Thrace region and to stop denying recognition to elected religious leaders.

Greece's Western Thrace region – in the country’s northeast, near the Turkish border – is home to a substantial, long-established Muslim Turkish minority numbering around 150,000.

The rights of the Turks of Western Thrace were guaranteed under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, but since then the situation has steadily deteriorated.

After a Greek junta came to power in 1967, the Turks of Western Thrace started to face harsher persecution and rights abuses by the Greek state, often in blatant violation of European court rulings.​​​​​​​