Western Thrace Turks in the period of Colonels Junta in Greece (1967-1974)

The Thrace region, which is thought to be named after the Thracian tribes who came to the region, has hosted Persians, Macedonians and Romans for years, and the first Turkish presence in the region began to appear with the European Huns who came to the region. The Turkish presence in the region was strengthened during the Ottoman Empire. After the Ottoman Empire conquered Thrace with the conquests in the Balkans, it settled the Turks in the region from Anatolia with the settlement policy it implemented and ensured the Turkification of the region. Finally, towards the end of the 15th century, the Turkish population in the region increased. The weakening of the Ottoman domination in the region revealed the problem of Western Thrace in the international platform, the Balkan Wars, World War I and the War of Independence in Anatolia, which took place respectively, determined the status of the Turks living in the region. With the Lausanne Peace Treaty signed in 1923 after the War of Independence, the Turks of Western Thrace became a minority living under the Greek administration. However, since this date, Greece has followed policies to dissolve the Turkish presence in Western Thrace. During the period of the Colonels' Junta of Greece, various pressures were applied to reduce the Turkish presence in the region. These pressures in education, economy, religion and social areas were followed systematically, the Turks of Western Thrace were forced to seek asylum, and the living spaces of the Turks in the region were restricted by placing the Greeks in the regions belonging to the Turks. During this period, the rights granted to the Turks of Western Thrace by the Lausanne Treaty were violated, and Greece was warned many times over the years by Turkey to stop these violations. The Cyprus Peace Operation, which took place at the end, brought the end of the Junta rule in Greece, but could not stop the pressures against the Western Thrace Turks. With this thesis, the problems experienced by the Western Thrace Turks during the period of the Colonels' Junta, which is called the dark age of Greece, were tried to be clarified and to contribute to the studies on the problems of the Western Thrace Turks. Keywords: Western Thrace Turks, Colonels Junta, Minority Rights, Greece, Turkey