People waiting to see Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to Komotini, Greece on 8 December 2017. PAimages/Grigoris Siamidis/NurPhoto/Sipa USA. All rights reserved.
In his historical visit to Greece earlier this month, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan unexpectedly brought up the Treaty of Lausanne, condemning Greece for violating it with regards to the lives of the Muslim minority in Western Thrace. Therefore, he asked for the Treaty to be revised so that it becomes relevant again.
Although Erdoğan brought the discussion about Lausanne to an international audience (Financial Times, The Guardian, The New York Times, BBC to name but a few) the Lausanne box is always open within the local politics of Western Thrace, and on various occasions also comes into the public realm at a national level in Greece when there is discussion around the Muslim minority in Thrace, Turkishness or Islam in Greece.
