Turkey condemns Greece for closing 12 more primary schools of Turks

Students play at the schoolyard on October 12, 2020 [Mahmut Serdar Alakuş/Anadolu Agency]

Turkey condemned Greece’s decision to close 12 more primary schools belonging to the Western Thrace Turkish minority, using austerity measures and low student numbers as an excuse, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

More than half of the Turkish primary schools have now been closed, reducing them to only 103.

The international community should no longer be a “spectator to the systematic violation” of human rights in a member state of the European Union and the Council of Europe, the ministry said.

In February, Greece rejecting a Muslim community request to open a place of worship in Thessaloniki. On 22 May, Ankara urged Athens to end its denial of the identity of the Turkish minority living in Greece.

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