ABTTF President: “This meeting is nothing more than a nice picture, unfortunately this is the truth! Indeed, as I have said many times before, our country seeks to create a distorted reality instead of talking and solving the realities in our region and the issues of our community with mutual dialogue and a well-intentioned approach!”
Prime Minister of our country Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with students from six Turkish primary schools belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace in the Prefecture of Rodopi at the Maximos Mansion in Athens on 24 November 2022.
According to the Greek press, the children studying in the fifth and sixth grades in six Turkish primary schools in the Prefecture of Rodopi were accompanied by nine teachers and the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs Niki Kerameus attended the meeting, where the functioning, the current situation and needs of the Turkish schools belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace under the name of minority schools were discussed. Referring to his first visit to Turkish schools in the region with his father in the late 1980s, Prime Minister Mitsotakis indicated the following: ‘‘I will never forget it for the rest of my life, Mitsotakis said an unforgettable sentence there: ‘Equality, equality’’. Underlining that a lot of progress has been made since then, Mitsotakis noted that they attach importance to Turkish schools that can provide the best possible education to children and ultimately raise children who have a good command of both languages.
“The meeting of Prime Minister Mitsotakis with the students and teachers of our schools from the Prefecture of Rodopi and the participation of our Minister of Education in this meeting is of course a positive step. However, this meeting is nothing more than a nice picture, unfortunately this is the truth! Indeed, as I have said many times before, our country seeks to create a distorted reality instead of talking and solving the realities in our region and the issues of our community with mutual dialogue and a well-intentioned approach! Similar to the perception that Stylianidis wanted to create with the discourse that Western Thrace is a model region in Europe where the majority and minority live together and where the minority benefits from all its rights, the statement of Mitsotakis that they attach importance to the Turkish schools in our region within the framework of equality policy does not reflect the reality! If that were the case, this government and its predecessors would cease their interference over the years with our educational autonomy, which is defined and guaranteed by treaties, and re-establish our autonomy in education! If that were the case, the quality of education in our schools today would be on par with public schools, and perhaps even better than public schools because they provide bilingual education! If that were the case, the state would not interfere with our autonomous schools, the schools we have would not be closed, and their numbers would not decrease! If that were the case, parents wouldn’t feel compelled to send their children to public schools for a better education out of concern about the poor quality of education in our schools! If our country were sincere in its words and actions, if it had taken real and concrete steps with sincerity, we would have applauded the meeting of the Prime Minister of our country with our children and teachers first! But unfortunately, this is not the truth!’’, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
*Image: www.anadoluimages.com
