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Türkiye demands Greece investigate death threat against Greek-Turkish MP

According to a statement by the Western Thrace Turkish Minority Advisory Board, Huseyin Zeybek was threatened during a live television programme on local Next TV by a person who called into the show.

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The rights of the Turks of Western Thrace are guaranteed under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne.

Türkiye has called on authorities in Greece to investigate a death threat against a Greek lawmaker who is also a member of the country's Muslim Turkish minority.

"We expect the Greek authorities to investigate this serious incident and punish the perpetrators," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Twitter on Friday, sharing a statement from the Turkish Minority Advisory Board in Greece’s Western Thrace region, which reported that Huseyin Zeybek was threatened.

"We stand behind the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace, which will not give up its struggle for human rights and freedom despite all threats and pressure," the ministry added.

Threat during live TV show

According to a statement by the Western Thrace Turkish Minority Advisory Board, Zeybek was threatened during a live television programme on local Next TV by a person who called into the show.

The board said the threatening phone call intended to "turn the marginalising and targeting rhetoric (by Greece) that has been going on for many years into action."

The Western Thrace region – near Greece's northeastern border with Türkiye – is home to a substantial, long-established Muslim Turkish minority numbering around 150,000.

The rights of the Turks of Western Thrace are guaranteed under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, but over the decades the situation has seriously deteriorated, including Greece refusing to carry out rulings by the European Court of Human Rights.