ABTTF President: “We support the demand of the Union of School Boards of the Western Thrace Minority Schools and want the mandates of the school boards in our schools to be extended until the end of this year if the elections cannot be held due to the pandemic conditions.”
The Turkish community in Western Thrace continues to react to the constant postponement of the elections for school boards by the Greek authorities in its autonomous schools.
The elections for school boards, which had been announced to be held on 22 December 2020 in Turkish minority schools across Western Thrace, were postponed seven times due to the Covid-19 outbreak, and it was lastly announced that the elections would be held on 20 April 2021.
The Union of School Boards of the Western Thrace Minority Schools decided to take action after the elections for school boards were postponed for the seventh time and during the protests which were held simultaneously in Komotini and Xanthi on 6 April 2021, the letter containing the signatures of 967 school board members and parents was delivered to Kostas Bantikos, Director of Education in the Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace. It was demanded either holding elections or an extension of the mandates of the school boards until the end of this year. In his response letter dated 7 April 2021, Bantikos completely rejected the demands of the school boards of the Turkish community in Western Thrace.
“The Turkish community in Western Thrace has the right to establish, manage and control its own schools in accordance with the Treaty of Lausanne. Therefore, within the framework of our educational autonomy, the school boards in our schools must be chosen by election. The constant postponement of the announced elections for school boards under the pretext of the pandemic leads to problems in the administration of our schools. On the other hand, in accordance with the article 72 of the Law 4756/2020, the tenures of the executive boards of legal entities of private law are considered to have been extended during the pandemic due to the existing conditions. As stated by the Union of School Boards of the Western Thrace Minority Schools, it is possible to extend the mandates of the school boards in our schools by decree based on the law, while the authorities of our country have proved once again that they lack good faith by ignoring this demand. We support the demand of the Union of School Boards of the Western Thrace Minority Schools and want the mandates of the school boards in our schools to be extended until the end of this year if the elections cannot be held due to the pandemic conditions”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
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