Cultural and political structure of West Thrace Turks in the context of Turkish-Greek press (1923-1994)

The Balkans, located in a geography of 836,000 square kilometers in the south of Europe, has a great cultural, religious and ethnic diversity and has remained under Ottoman rule for about 550 years. In this process, the Ottoman rule has largely succeeded in keeping different communities together in peace. The Ottoman Empire placed the Turkish population as an important issue in the Balkans, which it saw as its cultural and political center point, and instilled Turkish culture in the regions. However, the Turks, who were left in the lands lost after the Ottoman Empire's weakening and withdrawal, massacres, epidemics and migrations gradually fell into the "minority". The Ottoman State was a state capable of ruling the Balkan communities, but a new situation emerged, the situation of the "Turkish Minority" who remained in the sacrificed or had to be abandoned! Along with this new situation, the discussions of pleasure were also on the agenda of the minorities who remained outside. The surrender of Western Thrace, 80% of which was Turkish, to the Bulgarians with a population of 5% in 1913, which was left under the Bulgarian rule with the Istanbul Peace Agreement on September 29, 1913, is a clear indicator of the timidity and frustration in the Ottoman policy of the last period. . The Ottoman Empire, united with the pivot states in the great war, for the sake of Bulgaria's participation in the war in the autumn of 1915, Edirne Station in Karaağaç. The Western Thrace Region, which declared its independence three times as a result of great resistance and wars since 1913, came under the control of the Greek State. After that, the Thrace case (east and west) was continued in the orbit of the National Struggle Movement, which was initiated from Anatolia through the Association of Defense of Rights. In this period up to the Lausanne Peace, it is one of the most important problems that is inherited from the Ottoman Period to the Republic period and is still up to date. Since the Turkish and Muslim populations, which are the citizens of the Balkan countries, disturb these countries, policies such as forcing the Turkish-Muslim population to migrate or assimilate are important national state policies in most of the Balkan countries. Western Thrace and Balkan Turks have struggled to maintain their culture and unity under the influence of the dictators in the interwar period, then the cold war period and the new world order since the 1990's. It carried out these struggles through associations, political parties, magazines and newspapers, that is, the press. Therefore, this study draws attention to the cultural struggles made through the media. Key words: Western Thrace Turks, Culture, Minority Rights, Lausanne Peace Agreement, Turkish-Greek Press