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Western Thrace

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Coordinates:41°06′00″N25°25′00″E / 41.1000°N 25.4167°E /41.1000; 25.4167

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Geographical and historical region of Greece

Geographic region of Greece

Thrace Θράκη
Geographic region ofGreece
Thrace (blue) within Greece
Cession	1920
Replaced asadministrative region byEastern Macedonia and Thrace	1987
Capital	Komotini
Regional units	List Xanthi Rhodope Evros
Government
• Deputy Minister	Konstantinos Gioulekas [el] (New Democracy)
Area
• Total	8,578 km² (3,312 sq mi)
Population
• Total	371,208 (2011 census)^[1]
• Density	43/km² (110/sq mi)
Demonym	Thracian
Largest City	Alexandroupolis
Website	www.pamth.gov.gr

Western Thrace (Greek:Δυτική Θράκη,IPA:[ðitiˈciˈθɾaci]), also known asGreek Thrace orAegean Thrace, is ageographical andhistorical region ofGreece, between theNestos andEvros rivers in the northeast of the country;East Thrace, which lies east of the river Evros, forms theEuropean part ofTurkey, and the area to the north, inBulgaria, is known asNorthern Thrace.

Inhabited sincePaleolithic times, it has been under thepolitical,cultural andlinguistic influence of theGreek world since theclassical era;^[2]^[3] Greeks from theAegean islands extensively colonized the region (especially the coastal part) and built prosperous cities such asAbdera (home ofDemocritus, the 5th-century BC philosopher who developed an atomic particle theory, and ofProtagoras, a leadingsophist) andSale (near present-day Alexandroupolis).^[2] Under theByzantine Empire, Western Thrace benefited from its position close to the imperial heartland and became a center ofmedieval Greek commerce and culture; later, under theOttoman Empire, a number ofMuslims settled there, marking the birth of theMuslim minority of Greece.

Topographically, Thrace alternates between mountain-enclosed basins of varying size and deeply cut river valleys. It is divided into the threeregional units (formerprefectures):Xanthi,Rhodope andEvros, which together with theMacedonian regional units ofDrama,Kavala andThasos form theregion ofEast Macedonia and Thrace. The largest city of the region isAlexandroupolis.

TheFourth Army Corps of theHellenic Army has its headquarters inXanthi; in recent years, the region has attracted international media attention after becoming a key entering point for illegal immigrants trying to enterEuropean Union territory; Greek security forces, working together withFrontex, are also extensively deployed in the Greco-Turkish land border.

Demographics

[edit]

Flag of revolutionaries of Western Thrace and Samothrace during theGreek War of Independence

The approximate area of Western Thrace is 8,578 km² with apopulation of 371,208 according to the 2011census.^[1] It is estimated that two-thirds (67%) of the population areOrthodox Christian Greeks, while about a third (33%) areMuslims who are an officially recognised minority of Greece. Of these, about a quarterare of Turkish origin, while another quarter arePomaks who mainly inhabit the mountainous parts of the region. The rest areGreek Muslims or Romani. TheRomani of Thrace are also mainly Muslim, unlike their ethnic kin in other parts of the country who generally profess the Orthodox faith of the Greek majority.

Greek Thrace is bordered byBulgaria to the north,Turkey to the east, theAegean Sea (Greece) to the south andGreek Macedonia to the west. Alexandroupolis is the largestcity, with a municipal population of 72,959 according to the 2011 census.^[1] Below is a table of the five largest Thracian cities:^[1]

City	Greek	Town/city population (2011)	Municipality population (2011)
Alexandroupolis	Αλεξανδρούπολη	58,125	72,959
Komotini	Κομοτηνή	54,272	66,919
Xanthi	Ξάνθη	56,151	65,133
Orestiada	Ορεστιάδα	20,211	37,695
Didymoteicho	Διδυμότειχο	9,367	19,493

History

[edit]

Roman mosaics in Plotinopolis, modernDidymoteicho

After the Roman conquest, Western Thrace further belonged to theRoman province of Thracia founded in 46 AD. At the beginning of the 2nd AD century Roman emperorTrajan founded here, as a part of the provincial policy, two cities of Greek type (i.e. city-states),Traianoupolis andPlotinopolis. From this region passed the famousVia Egnatia, which ensured the communication between East and West, while its ramifications were connecting the Aegean world with Thracian hinterland (i.e. upper and middle valley of Evros river). From the coast also passed the sea route Troad–Macedonia, which the Apostle Paul had used in his journeys in Greece. During the great crisis of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century AD, Western Thrace suffered from the frequent incursions of the barbarians until the reign ofDiocletian, when it managed to prosper again thanks to its administrative reforms.^[4]

The region had been under the rule of theByzantine Empire from the time of the division of theRoman Empire into Eastern and Western empires in the early fourth century AD. It was part of thetheme of Macedonia. The core area of the old theme of Macedonia was recorded as the "province ofAdrianople andDidymoteichon" (provincia Adrianupoleos et Didimotichi).^[5] TheOttoman Empire conquered most of the region in the 14th century and ruled it until theBalkan Wars of 1912–1913. During Ottoman rule,Thrace had a mixed population ofGreeks,Turks,Bulgarians. A smaller number of Pomaks, Jews, Armenians and Romani also lived in the region. At 1821, several parts of Western Thrace, such asLavara,Maroneia, andSamothraki rebelled and participated in theGreek War of Independence.

Greek administration stamp in Western Thrace, 1920

During theFirst Balkan War, theBalkan League (Serbia,Greece,Bulgaria andMontenegro) fought against theOttoman Empire and annexed most of its European territory, including Thrace. Western Thrace was occupied by Bulgarian troops who defeated the Ottoman army. On 15 November 1912, on the right bank of the riverMaritza,Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps captured the Turkish corps of Yaver Paha, which defended EasternRhodopes and Western Thrace from invading Bulgarians.

The victors quickly fell into dispute on how to divide the newly conquered lands, resulting in theSecond Balkan War. In August 1913, Bulgaria was defeated, but kept Western Thrace under the terms of theTreaty of Bucharest.

In the following years, theCentral Powers (Germany,Austria-Hungary, and theOttoman Empire), with which Bulgaria had sided, lostWorld War I, and as a result, Bulgaria had to surrender Western Thrace under the terms of the 1919Treaty of Neuilly.^[6] Western Thrace was under temporary management of theEntente led by French General Charles Antoine Charpy. In late April 1920, as per theSan Remo conference which gathered the leaders of the main allies of the Entente powers (except the US), Western Thrace was given to Greece.

Throughout theBalkan Wars andWorld War I,Bulgaria, Greece andTurkey each forced respective minority populations in theThrace region out of areas they controlled. A large population ofGreeks inEastern Thrace, andBlack Sea coastal and southern Bulgaria, was expelled south and west into Greek-controlled Thrace. Concurrently, a large population of Bulgarians was forced from the region into Bulgaria by Greek and Turkish actions. Turkish populations in the area were also targeted by Bulgarian and Greek forces and pushed eastward. As part of theTreaty of Neuilly and subsequent agreements, the status of the expelled populations was legitimized. This was followed by a further population exchange which radically changed the demographics of the region toward increased ethnic homogenization within the territories each respective country was ultimately awarded.

This was followed by the large-scaleGreek-Turkish population exchanges of 1923 (Treaty of Lausanne), which finalized the reversal of Western andEastern Thrace region's pre-Balkan War demography. The treaty granted the status of a minority to theMuslims in Western Thrace, in exchange for a similar status for the ethnicGreek minority inIstanbul and the Aegean islands ofImbros andTenedos.

After theGerman invasion (April 1941), the area was occupied by Bulgarian troops, as part of the tripleAxis occupation of Greece, during World War II. During this period (1941–1944) the demographic distribution was further changed, with thearrest of the region's approximately 4,500 Jews by the Bulgarian police and their deportation to death camps administered by Germany. None of them survived.^[7]

Economy

[edit]

The economy of Thrace in recent years^[when?] has become less dependent on agriculture. A number of Greek-owned high-tech telecommunications companies have settled in the area. TheA2 motorway (Egnatia Odos) motorway which passes through Thrace has contributed to the further development of the region. Tourism is slowly becoming more and more important as the Aegean coast has a number of beaches, and there is also the potential for winter tourism activities in theRhodopi mountains^{[citation needed]}, the natural border with Bulgaria, which are covered by dense forest.

Religion

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Kimisis Tis Theotokou,Greek Orthodox Church,Komotini, West Thrace

It is estimated that two-thirds (67%) of the population are Orthodox Christian Greeks while about a third (33%) are part of the recognized Muslim minority of Greece.^[1]

Of the Muslim minority:^[8]

Turkish: ~35%
Pomaks: ~35%
Roma people: ~15%
ethnicGreek Muslims: ~15%

Turkey, a signatory state of the Lausanne Treaty, initially claimed the whole of the Muslim minority to be strictly an ethnicTurkish minority even though it actually consists of multiple ethnic groups. In his 7 December 2017 visit to GreeceTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, acknowledged for the first time the multi-ethnic nature of the Western Thracian Muslim minority.^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]

Jews and the Holocaust

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Before World War 2, Western Thrace was home to aSephardic andAshkenazi Jewish population. After Greece was occupied byAxis forces, around 4,075 Jews living in Western Thrace and Macedonia were sent toTreblinka extermination camp and were murdered.^[13]

Historical demographics

[edit]

The last censuses which asked about ethnicity were held in the transitional period before the region became part of Greece.^{[citation needed]} A number of estimates and censuses during the 1912-1920 period gave the following results about the ethnic distribution of the area that would become known as Western Thrace:^[14]

Census/Estimate	Muslims	Pomaks	Bulgarians	Greeks	Others	Total
General Distribution of Population in Western Thrace (1912–1920)
1912 estimate	120,000	-	40,000	60,000	4,000	224,000
1919 Bulgarian	79,539	17,369	87,941	28,647	10,922	224,418
1919 Bulgarian	77,726	20,309	81,457	32,553	8,435	220,480
1920 French	74,730	11,848	54,092	56,114	7,906	204,690
1920 Greek	93,273	-	25,677	74,416	6,038	201,404

The Pomak population depending on the source was sometimes counted together with the Turks (Muslims) following the Ottoman system of classifying people according to religion, while in other occasions was specified separately. According to the Bulgarian view, they are considered "Bulgarian Muslims" and an integral part of the Bulgarian nation.^[14]

By the Bulgarian census in 1919, held on the request of the Entente,^[15] of the population of Western Thrace^[16] was 219,723 of whom: Turks 35.4% (77,726 Muslims), Bulgarians 46.3% (101,766 - 81,457 Christians and 20,309 Muslims), Greeks 14.8% (32,553 Christians), Jews 1.4% (3,066) Armenians 1.5% (2,369), others 0.,9% (1,243). The area ceded to the Entente also includedKaraagach and its environs, which became part of Turkey after theTreaty of Lausanne.

Districts	Total	Turks	Bulgarian Christians	Bulgarian Muslims (Pomaks)	Greeks	Jews	Armenians	Others
1919 Bulgarian Census of Western Thrace^[15]
Karaagach	25,669	-	12,874	-	11,133	284	835	443
Dimotika	25,081	581	6,070	-	16,856	1,152	298	47
Soflu	16,748	339	12,280	-	4,097	9	21	50
Dedeagach	18,380	625	17,036	-	18	164	465	72
Gumurdjina	92,235	55,754	21,879	10,802	364	1,200	650	1,579
Xanthi	41,619	20,350	10,575	9,500	85	250	100	-
Total	219,723	77,726 (35.4%)	81,457 (37.1%)	20,309 (9.2%)	32,553 (14.8%)	3,066 (1.4%)	2,369 (1.5%)	2,243 (0.6%)

Western Thrace was ceded to the Entente in December 1919, after which many Bulgarians left the region, while many Greeks moved in. The Government of the Entente (led by French general Sharpe) held its own census in 1920,^[17]^{[full citation needed]} according to which Western Thrace had a population of 204,700, of whom: Turks 36.5% (74,720 Muslims), Bulgarians 32.2% (65,927 = 54,079 Christians and 11,848 Muslims), Greeks 27.4% (56,114 Christians), Jews 1.5% (2,985) Armenians 0.9% (1,880), others 3,066. At the time this census was conducted, a part of the Greek population of Xanthi, who left massively the Xanthi district after the Balkan wars (1913), returned.^[14]

Districts	Total	Turks	Bulgarians	Pomaks (Bulgarian Muslims)	Greeks	Jews	Armenians	Others
Census in 1920 conducted by the Entente Powers in Western Thrace.^[14]
Karaagach	27,193	5	10,200	-	15,045	370	450	1,123
Dimotika	26,313	1,247	4,956	-	18,856	878	157	192
Soflu	21,250	2,770	10,995	-	7,435	-	-	50
Dedeagach	16,317	640	11,543	-	3,355	165	512	102
Komotini	64,961	39,601	14,794	2,341	4,773	1,292	651	1,559
Xanthi	48,666	30,538	1,591	9,507	6,650	280	200	-
Total	204,700	74,720 (36.5%)	54,079 (26.4%)	11,848 (5,8%)	56,114 (27.4%)	2,985 (1.5%)	1,880 (0.9%)	3,066 (1.5%)

According to the Turkish researches^[18] the population of Western Thrace in 1923 was 191,699, of whom 129,120 (67%) wereTurks/Muslims (also includes thePomaks) and 33,910 (18%) wereGreeks; the remaining 28,669 (15%) were mostly (Christian)Bulgarians, along with small numbers ofJews andArmenians (before the population exchange).

Districts	Total	Turks	Greeks	Bulgarians	Jews	Armenians
General Distribution of Population in Western Thrace in 1923, prior to the Greek-Turkish population exchange, according to Turkish claims (based on of 1913)^[19]
Soufli	31,768	14,736	11,542	5,490	-	-
Alexandroupolis	27,473	11,744	4,800	10,227	253	449
Komotini	80,165	59,967	8,834	9,997	1,007	360
Xanthi	52, 255	42,671	8,728	522	220	114
Total	191,699	129,120 (67,4%)	33,910 (17,7%)	26,266 (13,7%)	1,480 (0,8%)	923 (0,5%)

Districts	Total	Greeks	Turks	Bulgarians	Jews	Armenians
General Distribution of Population in Western Thrace in 1923, according to Greek delegation in Laussane^[20]
Didymoteicho	34,621	31,408	3,213	-	-	-
Soufli	32,299	25,758	5,454	1,117	-	-
Orestiada	39,386	33,764	6,072	-	-	-
Alexandroupolis	38,553	26,856	2,705	9,102	-	-
Komotini	104,108	45,516	50,081	6,609	1,112	1,183
Xanthi	64,744	36,859	27,882	-	-	-
Total	314,235	199,704 (63,6%)	95,407 (30,4%)	16,828 (5,4%)	1,112 (0,4%)	1,183 (0,4%)

The population of the region, according to the official census of 1928 and 1951 conducted by the local authorities, per mother tongue, was as follows:^[21]

Prefectures	Total	Greek	Turkish	Slavic	Aromanian	Albanian	Pomak	Jewish	Other
Population in Western Thrace per mother tongue, 1928 (official census)
Evros	122,730	102,688	16,626	520	5	9	2	1,010	1,870
Xanthi	89,266	44,343	27,562	294	37	175	14,257	694	1,904
Rodopi	91,175	36,216	49,521	245	26	21	2,481	1,178	1,487
Total	303,171	183,247 (60,4%)	93,709 (30,9%)	1,059 (0,3%)	68 (<0,1%)	205 (<0,1%)	16,740 (5,5%)	2,882 (1%)	5,261 (1,7%)

Prefectures	Total	Greek	Turkish	Slavic	Aromanian	Albanian	Pomak	Jewish	Other
Population in Western Thrace per mother tongue, 1951 (official census)
Evros	141,340	126,229	10,061	0	18	4,121	112	18	781
Xanthi	89,891	46,147	26,010	8	5	354	16,926	2	439
Rodopi	105,723	45,505	57,785	0	2	5	1,628	8	790
Total	336,954	217,881 (64,7%)	93,856 (27,9%)	8 (<0,1%)	25 (<0,1%)	4,480 (1,3%)	18,666 (5,5%)	28 (<0,1%)	2,010 (1,7%)

Miscellaneous

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Abdera, an ancient Greek coastal town in the regional unit of Xanthi, is the birthplace of the Greekphilosophers Democritus, considered by some the father of theatomic theory, andProtagoras, who is credited with having invented the role of the professionalsophist or teacher of "virtue".
Thrace and in particular theRhodope mountains, its northern mountainous part, is home to one of the two survivingbrown bear (speciesUrsus arctos) populations in Greece (the other is in thePindus mountains, in central Greece).