Principal of the Turkish Minority Primary School in Echinos (Şahin) dismissed from duty

ABTTF President Halit Habipoğlu: The Greek Government must acknowledge the right to education in mother language of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace

Because he had admitted all those children to classes, who were not enrolled in the Turkish Minority Primary School in Echinos (Şahin) village on the ground that they had not attended a public kindergarten, the school principal Hasan Kıvrak was dismissed from duty. According to the daily Gündem, Salih Hoçka was appointed as the new school principal, and replaced Hasan Kurak.

The concerning enrollment problem, which broke out in last September, culminated through the suspension of the school principal Hasan Kurak, and the problem of the bilingual Minority kindergartens has gained a new dimension. With the entry into force of the Law no. 3518/2006, the kindergarten year has also included in the cumpolsory education in Greece, and all children having completed their fifth age are now obliged to attend kindergartens. At the beginnig of the new school year in Greece, the application of those parents for enrollment of their children in the Turkish Minority Primary School in Echinos (Şahin) had been rejected. They had stated that they had not wanted to send their children to public kindergartens where the the education language was only in Greek. Because he had admitted all those children to classes, the school principal Hasan Kurak had got an administrative warning.

President Habipoğlu: Children belonging to the Turkish minority has the right to bilingual minority kindergartens

“It is not acceptable that the principal of the Turkish Minority Primary School in Echinos (Şahin) village, Hasan Kurak was dismissed from duty without any explanatory statement. We do not think that Hasan Kurak has made a mistake because he as a pedagogue admitted those children to e classes by taking solely the best interest of them into consideration and following to the decision of the school board. The main problem here arises from the application of Law no. 3518/2006 whithout any distinction to the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace.” said Halit Habipoğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).