ABTTF President: “As we have repeatedly emphasised, the state intends to completely abolish our educational autonomy, which is guaranteed by the treaties. The decisions to close our primary schools, the unilateral laws that have weakened our educational autonomy over the years, and arbitrary practices are all aimed at this goal’’.
In accordance with the decision of the Regional Directorate of Education of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, three more primary schools belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace will be closed in the 2025-2026 school year on grounds of the lack of sufficient number of students.
According to the decision in question, Turkish primary schools in the villages of Dhrimi (Kardere) and Kechros (Mehrikoz) in the prefecture of Rodopi and in the village of Avra (Hasanlar) in the prefecture of Evros will be closed.
In Greece, the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports decided in 2010 to close primary schools with fewer than nine students nationwide as part of austerity measures to combat the economic and financial crisis. The unfair application of this decision not only to public schools but also to private and autonomous primary schools belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace resulted in a rapid decline in the number of Turkish primary schools from 2011 to the present day. While there were 188 Turkish primary schools in Western Thrace in 2011, this latest decision will reduce the number of Turkish primary schools to 83.
“By deciding to close three more primary schools that have special and autonomous status, our country continues to violate the educational autonomy guaranteed to our community by the Treaty of Lausanne and deprives our children of their right to education in their mother tongue. This latest decision, like the previous ones, is in contradiction to our educational autonomy. While our country is closing our primary schools in Western Thrace one by one each year under the pretext of lack of sufficient number of students, our motherland is granting permission to open a Greek primary school in Gökçeada for just three students at the request of the Greek Orthodox minority, with whom we share the same fate under the Treaty of Lausanne. As we have repeatedly emphasised, the state intends to completely abolish our educational autonomy, which is guaranteed by the treaties. The decisions to close our primary schools on grounds of the lack of sufficient number of students, the unilateral laws that have weakened our educational autonomy over the years, and arbitrary practices are all aimed at this goal. We call upon our country to urgently stop the closure of the primary schools that belong to all our community and respect the educational autonomy and right to education of our community”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
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