Muslim minority of Greece Greeks were required to leave Turkey, and the 356,000 Muslims outside of Thrace were required to leave Greece, including the Muslim Greek Vallahades of western Greek Macedonia. Consequently, most of the Muslim minority in Greece resides in the Greek region of Thrace, where they make up 28.88% of the population. Muslims form the largest group in the Rhodope regional unit (41.77%) and sizable percentages in the Xanthi (31.19%) and Evros regional units (4.65%). Nearly 300 Turks remain on the island of Rhodes and 200 on the island of Kos, as the islands were part of the Italian Dodecanese when the
Italian Islands of the Aegean autonomy. Due to the Greek embroilment and defeat in the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–22, these agreements were never implemented. Kastellorizo was temporarily occupied by France in 1915 and came under Italian control in 1921. The Dodecanese islands were formally annexed by Fascist Italy, as the "Possedimenti Italiani dell'Egeo" in 1923. Italian interest in the Dodecanese was rooted in strategic purposes, and the islands were intended to further the Empire's long range imperial policy. The islands of Leros and Patmos were used as bases for the Royal Italian Navy. Starting in 1923, civil governors replaced the military commanders. The Italian politics