Οι "Τούρκοι" της δυτικής Θράκης απαιτούν "αυτονομία" του "εκπαιδευτικού συστήματος τους"

Η "τουρκική μειονότητα" της Θράκης το 67% του τοπικού πληθυσμού, στερείται  εκπαιδευτικών, πολιτιστικών και θρησκευτικών δικαιωμάτων, δεν έχει το δικαίωμα να ορίσει τους δικούς της κληρικούς,Τα προβλήματα που αντιμετωπίζουν οι "Τούρκοι της Δυτικής Θράκης" πρέπει να αντιμετωπιστούν πριν από την επαναλειτουργία της Σχολής της Χάλκης,Το τουρκικό Σύνταγμα δεν επιτρέπει το άνοιγμα των ιδιωτικών θρησκευτικών σχολείων,

Turks of Western Thrace demand educational autonomy

The Turkish minority in Western Thrace continues to face serious problems in terms of educational, cultural and religious rights.

The Turks of Western Thrace are demanding increased educational rights in Greece in line with international agreements which the Greek government is party to.

Sami Toraman, the head of the Western Thrace Turkish Teachers Union (BTTÖB), told Sunday’s Zaman that “we want more input and control of our educational system; we are in desperate need of secondary schools. We want the Greek government to follow the Treaty of Lausanne.” The Turkish minority in Western Thrace continues to face serious problems in terms of educational, cultural and religious rights. The Turkish minority currently makes up 67 percent of the population of Western Thrace. The literacy rate in Western Thrace is the lowest in all of Greece. There are currently only two government-backed minority secondary schools in Western Thrace for a population of 150,000. The Turkish-Muslim minority, unlike the Jewish and Christian communities, are not even allowed to appoint their own religious clerics. The Treaty of Lausanne had given the Turkish minority in Western Thrace the right to establish and administer their own schools. The rights of the Turkish minority in Western Thrace have been put in the spotlight with the question of the reopening of the Greek Orthodox Heybeliada (Halki) seminary. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has stated, “The problems faced by the Turks in Western Thrace need to be addressed before the reopening of the Halki seminary.” The Turkish government is under European Union pressure to reopen the seminary, which Turkey closed in 1971 during a period of tension with Greece over Cyprus and a crackdown on religious education that also included Muslim religious schools. The Turkish Constitution does not permit the opening of private religious schools. The Orthodox Greek Patriarchate leadership does not want the Halki seminary under the control of the Turkish Ministry of Education, it wants complete autonomy. The leaders of the Western Thrace Turks also want autonomy. Toraman stated that “we want to have autonomy in our educational system.” Some have suggested the opening of an autonomous private Turkish school in Western Thrace could make it easier for a compromise in the opening of the Halki seminary. “Instead of making it easier, this would make the situation much more complex; it is not realistic,” Mehmet Seyfettin Erol, a professor of international relations at the Ankara-based Gazi University, told Sunday’s Zaman. Erol further pointed out the status of the Greek Orthodox Heybeliada (Halki) seminary is different than that of traditional private schools. The patriarchate is a religious institution as mentioned in Article 42 of the Lausanne Treaty. The situation of the Turks of Western Thrace should be dealt with in the EU platform, Erol added. “The continuing human rights violations by Greece against the Turks of Western Thrace should not be confused with the situation concerning the Halki seminary. The Turkish government should take this violation by an EU member country to the international level: the UN, the US, the EU and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation [OIC].” http://www.todayszaman.com