ABTTF President: ‘Our country Greece continues its unilateral policies and practices aimed at completely eliminating our educational autonomy. A discriminatory law submitted and adopted by the Ministry of Education to the Parliament is the latest example of this and we demand that the law be amended to include the Western Thrace Turkish minority schools and that the discriminatory measures regarding our schools in the law be immediately revoked’.
The Greek Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs’ draft law on ‘Improving and developing the levels of schools and educators’, which envisions a series of changes to the education system of the Turkish community in Western Thrace was adopted by a majority of the votes in the Parliament. According to the law in question, Western Thrace Turkish minority schools are excluded from the facilities brought to public schools, they are prohibited from cooperating with other institutions and associations, and they are prevented from earning income through donations or grants. The law prevents the introduction of a ban on the use of the buildings of Turkish minority schools, which were closed in the past on grounds that the number of students is insufficient and prevents any activities within the scope of minority education in these buildings.
‘In our country Greece, the government again ignored the Turkish community in Western Thrace and brought to Parliament a new draft law that violates our educational autonomy which has been adopted. The state and its representative government continue to make decisions by excluding us on issues that directly concern and affect us. According to the Treaty of Lausanne, the Turkish community in Western Thrace enjoys the right to establish, manage and supervise its own schools. It is not possible for us to accept this law, which essentially constitutes a new fait accompli regarding our schools which are of autonomous status and where our children are educated. The new law aims to transform our community’s schools into public buildings. On the other hand, while the draft law is being discussed in the general assembly, we also find it difficult to understand the use of statements by Deputy Speaker Nikitas Kaklamanis regarding schools belonging to the Greek Orthodox minority in Istanbul, although it has nothing to do with the issue. The relevant law contains blatantly discriminatory measures regarding the Western Thrace Turkish minority schools, and this is exactly what we oppose. We demand that this discriminatory law, which was submitted and adopted by the Ministry of Education, be amended to include the Western Thrace Turkish minority schools and that the discriminatory measures regarding our schools in the law be immediately revoked and we call upon our country to end its policies and measures aimed at eliminating our educational autonomy’ said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
