ABTTF President: “On the one hand, the Greek primary school opened for only 3 students with the permission of our motherland in Gökçeada upon the request of the Greek Orthodox minority, with whom we share the same fate, and on the other hand, our Turkish primary schools which have an autonomous status, are closed down by our country one by one every year! The aim here is obvious: There is an attempt at completely eliminating our educational autonomy, which is guaranteed by the treaties, by the state with a long-term plan. We call on our country to respect the educational autonomy and the right to education of our community by taking our motherland as an example, and we demand an immediate end to the closure of our community’s primary schools under the pretext of lack of sufficient students’’.
In the 2024-2025 school year, 4 more primary schools belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace will be closed by the competent authorities of our country Greece on grounds of lack of sufficient number of students.
According to the decision taken, the Turkish primary schools in the villages of Vyrsini (Hacıören), Kymi (Keziren) and Plagia (Payamlar) in the prefecture of Rodopi and Palaio Katramio (Karaköy) in the prefecture of Xanthi will be closed.
In our country Greece, within the scope of the economic austerity measures taken by the Greek Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports in 2010, and within the framework of the decision to close primary schools with less than nine students throughout the country, there has been a very rapid decrease in the number of primary schools with autonomous status belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace since 2011. While the number of Turkish primary schools in Western Thrace was 188 in 2011, with this latest decision, the number of Turkish primary schools will decrease to 86.
“Although the Turkish community in Western Thrace has been granted educational autonomy in accordance with the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and has the right to establish and manage its own schools, our educational autonomy has been dismantled by various laws and arbitrary practices over the years. Our country, disregarding our educational autonomy, continues to close our primary schools with autonomous status belonging to our community on the pretext of insufficient number of students and usurps the right to education of our children. On the one hand, the Greek primary school opened for only 3 students with the permission of our motherland in Gökçeada upon the request of the Greek Orthodox minority, with whom we share the same fate, and on the other hand, our Turkish primary schools with autonomous status, which are closed one by one every year by our country! The aim here is obvious: There is an attempt at completely eliminating our educational autonomy, which is guaranteed by the treaties, by the state with a long-term plan. We call on our country to respect the educational autonomy and the right to education of our community by taking our motherland as an example, and we demand an immediate end to the closure of our community’s primary schools under the pretext of lack of sufficient students’’, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
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