ABTTF President: “In 2013, Türkiye approved the opening of a Greek primary school in Gökçeada with only 3 students. This situation is proof of how decisive the policy and attitude of states towards minorities is. We ask our country to restore our educational autonomy and to adopt a constructive, good-faith approach in solving all unresolved issues. For this reason, the demand for a new school building at the Xanthi Turkish Secondary and High School should be met, instead of creating a confusion of competencies’’.
Yusuf Tekin, Minister of National Education of Türkiye, the motherland of the Turkish community in Western Thrace, drew attention to the issues faced by the Western Thrace Turks in education in his speech during an event in Türkiye. Minister Tekin indicated that Türkiye should guarantee the right to education and training of the Turkish community in Western Thrace.
In his speech at the event, Tekin further noted that the number of schools in Western Thrace, which was at the time of the signing of Lausanne, has decreased to one fourth today because Greece has being closing the schools. ‘‘Here, we ensure the continuation of these schools in a manner befitting us. This is our approach to this issue,’’ Tekin said, pointing to the support given by the state to the schools belonging to the Greek community in Istanbul, Bozcaada and Gökçeada.
“As stated by the Minister of Education of our motherland, while there were many primary schools belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace in 1923 when the Treaty of Lausanne was signed, today this number has decreased to 86. The biggest factor in the fact that the number of our primary schools is so low today is the decision of the administration of our country in 2010 to close schools with less than 9 students within the scope of combating the economic and financial crisis. The main point to be noted here is that our schools belong to our community, which has been granted educational autonomy with the Treaty of Lausanne, but our country has taken this autonomy away from us over the years. The ministerial decision issued in 2010 was also valid for our schools. In 2011, the number of our primary schools was 188, 102 schools were closed down in 15 years. However, as the Minister said, our motherland Türkiye had approved the opening of a Greek primary school in Gökçeada in 2013 with only 3 students. With the opening of first the primary school, then the middle school and high school on the island, the number of Greeks settling on the island increased and the number of students in the schools also increased. This situation is proof of how decisive the policy and attitude of states towards minorities is. We ask our country to restore our educational autonomy and to adopt a constructive, good-faith approach in solving all unresolved issues. For this reason, the demand for a new school building at the Xanthi Turkish Secondary and High School should be met, instead of creating a confusion of competencies”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
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