(Anadolu) In a violation of longstanding treaties, Greece on Monday decided to close 12 more schools serving the country’s Muslim Turkish minority, claiming there are too few students.
Under an Education Ministry decree, eight schools in Rhodope (Rodop) and four schools in Xanthi (Iskece) in the country’s Western Thrace will be temporarily suspended — a move that Turkey claims is planned and often proves permanent.
A total of 132 minority schools in the country have been systematically closed since 2011, and the number of schools operating in the Rhodope, Xanthi, and Evros provinces has dropped to 103, with officials citing a supposed lack of students as the reason.
Turks in Greece outraged
Greece’s decision to close minority schools is part of a “planned and malicious effort against the minority,” the Western Thrace Turkish Minority Consultation Council said in a statement.
