Bilingualism in Western Thrace and teaching of Turkish: A case study in xanthi

The Balkan Peninsula is an important region for the Republic of Turkey. Especially during 19th century, the Ottoman empire lost vast majority of the Balkan land which played a role as home for Turkish people. Howewer, many of Turkish population continued to live in that land. Western Thrace (in other words the land we lost after Balkan wars by losing the control against Greek.) is still home for vast majority of Turkish people. The aim of the study is to evoluate the current situation of bilingualism, Turkish identity and teaching learners Turkish in the city of Xanthi. In this qualitative study, phenomenology pattern was used. Moreover, the data were collected by interviewing people. In this context, 10 students originally from İskeçe and studying at the universities in Turkey, 13 people under 40 and 9 people over 40 studied at universities in Turkey were interviewed. The data were categorized. Moreover, they were analyzed in conclusion part. As conclusion of the study, it can be said that bilingual education ( Turkish and Greek) is provioded except for preschool education to as a result of the Treaty of Lausanne in Xanthi. Moreover, there are difficulties in terms of materials physical conditions of the schools and quality teachers. They need to be solved. It was observed that vast majority of people from Xanthi who are members Western Thrace Turkish minority learn Turkish in their familes. Some of them speak Pomade as their native tongue and they learn Turkish during their formal education. It's a condition that makes Turkish education diffucult. Many of Western Thrace Turkish minority think that there is dictatory approach against Turkish identity. In spite of this, Turkish minority see themselves Turkish and define their culture as Turkish culture and define Turkey as their hometown. Fort this reason, many students get their undergraduate and graduate degrees in Turkey. Many of the participants want to serve in Western Thrace after getitng educated at the universities in Turkey. The fact that the people in Turkey are unaware of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority is a situation disappointing and ıt's an expected situation that there are different events that Turkey can proviole to introduce the region to overcome that problem. In addition, since the problems of Western Thrace Turkish Minority education are directly based on diplomacy, it is expected that two countries will raise solution-oriented problems in this regard. Keywords: Western Thrace Turkish Minority, Xanthi, Bilingualism, Teaching of Turkish