Religion and educational problems of Muslim Turkish minority in Western Thrace

In the thesis study, the situation and difficulties of formal and non-formal education institutions that carry out religious education activities of the Muslim Turkish Minority living in Greece are discussed. In this study, information about the history and status of the minority's formal education, the Qur'an course programs in non-formal religious education, and the aims of this program were given, and in addition, the educational problems of the minority were tried to be identified. There are some problems in education in Western Thrace due to the problem of kindergarten, the closure of minority primary schools, and the inadequacy of secondary and high school education institutions. The problem of the Muslim cleric (Mufti) of the minority society, the lack of religious education opportunities in formal education and the progress supported by non-formal education, the structure of elected mufti institutions supported by the minority who do not accept appointments by the state, and religious education activities that appeal to the whole community are included. The demands and wishes of the state for the return of the minority's right to autonomous education arising from the treaties, the establishment of the minority's own schools, leaving the management and control to the minority, and solving the current education problems with a method suitable for the ethnography of Western Thrace have been discussed. The denial of national identity, the economic bottleneck, the problem of foundations, and restrictions on religious freedoms, which are at the core of the education policy, have been examined in the solution of the problems. It is an important study in terms of the awareness of the minority society, raising awareness about its problems, and the situation of non-governmental organizations that provide educational support, in terms of shaping and recognizing the educational structure of the steps taken based on the most basic problems of the minority, and in terms of revealing educational problems.