Turkish

The Turkish-speaking population of Greece live in Western Thrace. They are Muslims by religion. During the last two decades, a few thousand Turkish speakers (mostly gypsies) have emigrated to Athens and Thessaliniki urban areas. The vast majority of Muslim gypsies (who lived originally only in Western Thrace) have Turkish as their mother tongue. There is also a small Turkish-speaking community on the Dodecanessa islands.

Hellenised, latinised, and then slavinised ; Thrace received the first arrivals of Turkish people in the XIth century ; migrations continued during the whole Ottoman period. At the end of the war between Greece and Turkey, the Lausanne Treaty of 1923 regulated the population movements in between the two countries. One Muslim minority was allowed in one country and one Christian minority in Turkey. The Muslim minority of Greece includes Turkish people, Muslim Bulgarians (Pomaks) and some of the Gypsies ; its existence is warranted and its rights are officially established.