ABTTF President: “We want a new school building! Until today, we have kept this issue on the agenda with the initiatives of our school board and with the support of our politicians representing the Turkish community in Western Thrace, our associations and the people of our region, and we have not allowed the relevant public institutions and organisations to ignore our demands. This will be the case until our demand for a new school building is met’’.
The demand for a new school building at the Xanthi Turkish Minority Secondary and High School was brought to the parliamentary agenda again. Xanthi New Left MP Hüseyin Zeybek reiterated the demand for a new school building in his parliamentary question to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation and the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports.
Deputy Minister of Education Zetta Makri indicated that the school building issue was under the authority of the Municipality and not the Ministry, while Municipality of Xanthi has stated that the issue was under the authority of the Ministry. Due to the confusion of competencies, the issue regarding the request for a new school building has grown even more. The Directorate of Education of the Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace issued a press release and blamed the school board for the poor physical conditions of the school and accused the board of not carrying out the maintenance and renovation works of the school. The school board responded by reminding that the school building was a ‘‘protected monument’’ and that all technically possible maintenance and renovation works had been carried out.
Following the discussions, the Ministry of Education announced that it will undertake the restoration and renovation of the central building facilities of the Xanthi Minority Secondary and High School. MP Hüseyin Zeybek, who brought the issue back to the parliamentary agenda, said that this will be a temporary solution, since the construction of a new and modern school building is a necessity in the current conditions. The MP requested that the requests of the school board be taken into consideration and that prefabricated classrooms be placed in the garden of the building located on the same street as the central building as a temporary solution.
‘‘Unfortunately, our demand for a modern and new school building for Xanthi Turkish Minority Secondary and High School is still not met. Today, the Ministry will undertake the renovation and restoration of the school building facilities. However, we do not know what will be done with this renovation work and when the renovation work will start. Moreover, the renovation work in the existing school will not be enough to provide a modern education. For this reason, we say it clearly once again! We want a new school building! Until today, with the initiatives of our school boards and with the support of our politicians representing the Turkish community in Western Thrace, our associations and the people of our region, we have kept this issue on the agenda, and we have not allowed the relevant public institutions and organisations to ignore our demands. This will be the case until our demand for a new school building is met’’, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
*Image: www.gundemgazetesi.com
