Thrace Thrace Thrace (; Modern , "Thráki"; , "Trakiya"; ) is a geographical and historical area in Southeast Europe, now split between Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south and the Black Sea to the east. It comprises southeastern Bulgaria (Northern Thrace), northeastern Greece (Western Thrace) and the European part of Turkey (East Thrace). In antiquity, it was also referred to as "Europe", prior to the extension of the term to describe the whole continent. The name "Thrace" comes from the Thracians, an ancient Indo-European people inhabiting Southeast
Turks of Western Thrace 1955 and 1998, approximately 60,000 Greek Muslim individuals, predominantly Turkish, were deprived of their citizenship under Article 19. Of these 60,000, approximately 7,182 lost their citizenship between 1981 and 1997. The application of this law to the Turks of Western Thrace was a retaliatory measure in response to the devastating state-sponsored pogrom which targeted the Greeks of Istanbul in September 1955. The pogrom precipitated an exodus of ethnic Greeks from Turkey. Article 19 was repealed in 1998, though not retroactively. Since the Treaty of Lausanne used the criterion of religion to refer to the ethnic communities, the Greek Government has