page_title: Didymoteicho
section_title: Modern era
hierarchical_section_title: Didymoteicho / History / Modern era
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Der Dom Panagia Elefterotria in Didymoticho
context_page_description: Didymoteicho is a town located on the eastern edge of the Evros regional unit of East Macedonia and Thrace, in northeastern Greece. It is the seat of the municipality of the same name. The town sits on a plain and located south east of Svilengrad, south of Edirne, Turkey and Orestiada, west of Uzunköprü, Turkey, about 20 km north of Soufli and about 90 km north of Alexandroupoli. The municipality of Didymóteicho has a land area of 565.4 km² and a population of 19,493 inhabitants.
context_section_description: In 1912 the town was briefly occupied by the Bulgarians during the First Balkan War, only to return to Ottoman control in the Second Balkan War. The Ottoman Government offered the city to Bulgaria in 1915, as a reward for entering World War I on the side of the Central Powers. Under the terms of the 1919 Treaty of Neuilly, Didymoteicho, along with the rest of Western Thrace, came under the temporary management of a multinational Entente military force led by the French General Charles Antoine Charpy. In the second half of April 1920, as a result of the San Remo conference of the leaders of the main allies of the Entente powers (except the United States), the region of Western Thrace was annexed by Greece. The Second World War devastated Didymoteicho. Today Didymoteicho is home to many descendants of Greek refugees from Eastern Thrace, now Turkey, as well as members of Greece's Turkish-speaking Muslim minority population (see Western Thrace Turks). Like the Pomaks of East Macedonia and Thrace the Turkish population of Didymoteicho dates to the Ottoman period and unlike the Turkish Muslims and Greek Muslims of Greek Macedonia and Epirus was exempted from the 1922–23 Greek-Turkish population exchange following the Treaty of Lausanne.
  The town was considerably affected by the Evros river flooding of 17 to 22 February 2005. Flood warnings were reported at that time. The flood affected much of the town on Wednesday, 2 March 2005 and continued for several days. On Friday, 4 March, flood waters began to ebb slowly. Over 5,000 mm of rainfall caused the river to overflow its banks. Buildings, properties and stores were flooded, leaving people stranded. It was the worst flood in nearly 50 years. The railway line south of Didymoteicho and near the station was also flooded and was closed. Serious flooding was also experienced in March 2006 throughout the city and the general Evros river area.
  Didymoteicho is just 2 kilometers away from the Greek-Turkish border, and as a result it is home to many Greek military units and Hellenic Army training centers. Hundreds of thousands of Greek men had to either receive military training or spend part of their military service here (see conscription in Greece). The famous 1991 George Dalaras and Lavrentis Machairitsas song Didymoteicho Blues (Greek: Διδυμότειχο Μπλουζ) pays homage to the personal stories and experiences of these soldiers while offering a more general commentary about life in the Army.
caption: Panagia Eleftherotria church
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