ABTTF President: “It is impossible to teach Greek or English without having lessons in mother tongue. With the authorisation to the establishment of bilingual Turkish kindergartens, children belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace will be able to choose between state schools where Turkish is taught or Turkish kindergartens”
ABTTF asked the Ministry of Education that Turkish should also be taught in state kindergartens in the regions where the Turkish community in Western Thrace lives similar to activities that are planned in English in state kindergartens within the framework of the pilot practice regarding ‘Activities in English in Kindergartens’ drafted in Article 2 of the amendments introduced by the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs regarding the upgrade of schools.
In the public consultation carried out by the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, ABTTF indicated that education given in Greek and English can be successful only when coupled with education in mother tongue both cognitively and pedagogically, and asked for Turkish to be included through educational and creative activities in state kindergartens in the provinces of Rhodope, Xanthi and Evros.
Reminding that the Turkish community in Western Thrace enjoys the right to manage its own schools with the granted right to education in the mother tongue in accordance with the Treaty of Lausanne, ABTTF indicated that pre-school education has become mandatory under Law No. 3518/2006 but also criticized the fact that it is still not allowed to establish bilingual kindergartens within the schools belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace. Explaining that under these conditions, the children have the only choice to go to state kindergartens where there is education only in Greek, ABTTF underlined that this situation had been mentioned by former United Nations Independent Expert on Minority Issues Gay McDougall during her visit to the region in 2008 as well as the 2015 Greece report by the Council of Europe’s Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI). ABTTF said that allowing bilingual education would allow better learning of Turkish and Greek as indicated in the international reports mentioned but that such requests have yet not been accepted by the government.
Referring to the EU Treaty and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights’ articles on the rights of persons belonging to national minorities and the right to education, ABTTF demanded establishment of bilingual kindergartens in schools belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace.
Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) made the following statement: “In addition to our organisations in Western Thrace and as an umbrella organisation, we also have contributed to the draft legislation opened to public consultation by the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs regarding the teaching of English with creative activities in kindergartens and asked for Turkish also to be taught through educational and creative activities as multilingual education cannot be of quality without teaching in the mother tongue. The Turkish community in Western Thrace which has educational autonomy with the right to education in mother tongue has its own primary, secondary and high schools and our children pursue their education there. Moreover, a significant number of our children are also registered in state schools. As the Turkish community in Western Thrace, we want bilingual kindergartens in our school system, we have been expressing this request for years and we will continue to do so. In case bilingual Turkish kindergartens are allowed, there will be the same that we are living currently. That is, there will be both bilingual Turkish kindergartens and state schools which our families will be able to choose. As stated by former United Nations Independent Expert on Minority Issues Gay McDougall in her report in 2008, with the authorisation to establish bilingual Turkish kindergartens, children belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace will be free to choose between state schools or Turkish kindergartens. Otherwise, as it is happening today, the state, with a unilateral insisting approach, will continue to ignore the right to learn in mother tongue by implementing a system where Greek and even English is being taught but that Turkish is not included. This is a situation that we cannot accept under any circumstances in the state school system or our autonomous school system, and we won’t stay silent about it!’ said
You can find the text ABTTF sent to the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs in the following link: http://www.opengov.gr/ypepth/?p=5131&cpage=18#comments
