Despite a common Ottoman historical heritage with Turkey, lasting well-over six centuries, the Greek authorities have not enough respect for the Turkish epoch architectures in Western Thrace as well as in other regions of Greece.
There are many Turkish historical buildings, mosques and monuments in Greece, especially in Western Thrace. Regrettably, the Greek authorities fail to regard these historic monuments as the common heritage of mankind.
Most of them are abandoned and intentionally left to decay and disappear. In the region of Alexandropolis, almost all the Turkish-Islamic monuments have been destroyed. The Pospos Shrine in Komotini which dates back to l390's was demolished in December l989 by the Greek authorities on the grounds that the Shrine was about to collapse and it was threatening the public safety.
In February 1997, several attacks were carried out against the Murat Reis Shrine in Rhodes and to the historical tomb stones in its garden. On May 1997, a historical Turkish Bath in a small town called Tyrnova in the vicinity of Larissa was badly damaged as a result of a bomb placed inside the building.
Only 13 days after this event, on May 18, 1997, the Hasan Baba Shrine was damaged severely when several pieces of dynamite planted inside the historical monument exploded.
More recently, the Greek Municipality in Xanthi started to construct a sports facility on the premises of a Muslim shrine, namely “Emirler Tekke”, which is also known to be a waqf (foundation) property. In fact, the Greek authorities’ first attempt on the said shrine was made during the junta period in Greece back in 1974, during which the shrine and the surrounding graves were destroyed by the military.
Obviously, the fact that the Turkish Minority is deprived of its rights regarding Waqfs also contributes to the destruction of the Turkish Muslim cultural heritage in Western Thrace.