Halit Habip Oğlu: “We demand the immediate cancellation of the law giving the administration of our madrasahs which have an autonomous structure to the government-appointed acting muftis and call on the Greek government to immediately end its practices aimed at eliminating the educational autonomy of the Turkish community in Western Thrace.”
The law entitled “Improving special education and other emergency provisions” drafted by the Greek Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs was adopted in the Greek Parliament and published in the Official Newspaper dated 29 July 2020. The new law envisages the introduction of government-appointed acting muftis who are not recognised by the Turkish community in Western Thrace to the presidency of the school boards of two madrasahs in Komotini and Xanthi.
According to the new law, the government-appointed acting mufti of Komotini and the government-appointed acting mufti of Xanthi will be heading the school boards of the madrasahs in Komotini and Xanthi. The other four members of the school boards will be elected by the pupils’ parents. The law also provides that the employment contracts of the teachers currently working in the madrasahs will be terminated by 31 August 2020 and compensation will be paid to them.
On the other hand, the Greek Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Interior announced in a joint decision that 120 religious instructors, who will serve under the authority of the government-appointed acting muftis in Western Thrace, will be hired. It was also announced that if there is a need for, some of the religious instructors who will be assigned within the framework of the “240 Imams Law” the Turkish community in Western Thrace has been fiercely opposing against from the very beginning could serve also in madrasahs in Komotini and Xanthi. According to the “240 Imams Law”, the tasks of the religious instructors are described as giving Quran courses in mosques in Western Thrace or giving lessons about Islamic religion in Greek language to the children of the Turkish community in Western Thrace who attend public schools.
“The Greek government has added a new one to its insidious measures targeting the educational autonomy of the Turkish community in Western Thrace through a new law which passed in the parliament. The control of the madrasahs which belong to the Turkish community has been given to the government-appointed acting muftis without the knowledge and will of the school boards there. Shortly after this, it was decided that religious instructors will be put in place of the educational staff which will be suspended from their positions in the madrasahs. According to the Lausanne Peace Treaty, the Turkish community in Western Thrace has the right to create, manage and control its own schools. The madrasahs in Komotini and Xanthi with an autonomous status are Turkish schools which are giving religious education. We demand the immediate cancellation of the law giving the administration of our madrasahs which have an autonomous structure to the government-appointed acting muftis and call on the Greek government to immediately end its practices aimed at eliminating the educational autonomy of the Turkish community in Western Thrace”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
*Images: www.birlikgazetesi.org, www.milletgazetesi.gr, www.gundemgazetesi.com
