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ANKARA: Improve Education For Minorities, Says Report

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  • ANKARA: Improve Education For Minorities, Says Report

    IMPROVE EDUCATION FOR MINORITIES, SAYS REPORT

    Hurriyet
    March 17 2009
    Turkey

    ISTANBUL - The government should take action against the difficulties
    minorities face in education, says a new report released by
    the Turkish branch of the London-based Minority Rights Group
    International. Education in mother tongue, access to education and
    mandatory religion courses are a problem for both recognized minorities
    and others

    An international group has reported that Turkey needs to address its
    education and government policies that promote Turkish identity and
    nationalism in a manner that denies the rights of other ethnic and
    religious identities.

    The report was released by Minority Rights Group International, or MRG,
    at a press conference in Istanbul yesterday. Current minority policy
    fails to address educational rights not only for Greek, Armenian and
    Jewish communities but also for diverse groups such as Assyrians,
    Kurds, Roma, Laz and Caucasians in Turkey, read the report titled,
    "Forgotten or Assimilated? Minorities in the Education System of
    Turkey."

    One of the main problems minorities are facing in the education system
    is a violation of the right to education in their mother tongue,
    read the report.

    No public school uses a minority language as the language of
    instruction and no minority language is taught even as a foreign
    language at public schools, according to the report.

    Apart from legal problems, minority schools also face administrative
    difficulties. The vice-headmaster assigned to the minority schools by
    the state's National Education Directorate has more authority in the
    schools than the headmaster. "This means schools are being managed
    by two different heads," said the editor-in-chief of Apoyevmatini,
    a Greek-language Istanbul newspaper, Mihalis Vasiliadis, at the
    press conference. Garo Paylan, board member of the private Armenian
    YeÅ~_ilköy Primary School, said minority schools face economic
    problems in employing teachers with a good education in language or
    other courses.

    Another significant problem is the history textbooks that depict
    Armenians as betrayers. He mentioned the recent case when the Ministry
    of Education sent out to schools a documentary based on claims that
    Armenians killed Turks in 1915. The Ministry of Education has stopped
    the viewing of the film following reaction from minority communities.

    Turkish identity and nationalism are promoted as fundamental values in
    the education system, while minority cultures are ignored, according
    to the report. The oath read in primary schools every morning makes
    children from minority communities feel worthless, said Vasiliadis,
    adding that the oath should not be required, at least for minority
    schools. The oath says: "I am a Turk, I am correct, I am hardworking
    ... My presence is a present to the presence of Turks. Happy is the
    person who says 'I am a Turk.' "

    "Every time when I was reading the oath I felt scared ... I was a
    Kurd at home and I was becoming a Turk at school. I was confused," an
    Alevi-Kurdish school teacher was quoted as saying in the report. The
    report encourages the government to remove articles prohibiting the
    protection of minority cultures and language from all the codes.

    Another critical issue in the education system is religious education.

    All school children must attend mandatory classes on religious culture
    and ethics. But the main teachings are based on the principles of
    the Sunni sect of Islam, instead of general teachings on the history
    of religions, according to Nurcan Kaya, London-based MRG's Turkey
    coordinator and author of the report.

    Only Christians and Jews are permitted to opt out but they must
    disclose their religion to do so, in contradiction to the main
    principle of the Turkish Constitution, which prohibits the forceful
    disclosure of religion, she said.

    "Mandatory or selective, the religious textbooks should be written
    in a perspective covering all the non-Muslim religions and every
    sect of Islam," said Serap Topcu, a lawyer from the Cem Foundation,
    one of the influential Alevi organizations in Turkey.

    The report found that minority pupils in these classes were sometimes
    asked to observe Muslim rituals that were not listed in the curriculum,
    such as performing ablutions, prayer and attending mosque. The access
    to education is also a problem for some diverse groups in Turkey not
    officially considered minorities.

    Official minorities

    "Turkey recognizes only Armenians, Greeks and Jews as minorities,
    but no other minorities such as Assyrians, Kurds, and Roma people
    have the right to open their own schools or have education in their
    mother tongue at school," Nurcan Kaya said.

    "Assyrians do not have a school within the Turkish education system
    for we do not have the rights other minorities have," said Muzaffer
    Ä°ris, board member of Mesopotamia Culture and Solidarity Association,
    or MEZODER. Around 30,000 Assyrians living in Turkey are trying to
    learn their mother tongue in churches in a very backward and unhealthy
    atmosphere, he said.

    Kurds and Roma people also face difficulties accessing education,
    said the report, referring to a survey that revealed "Kurdish families
    displaced by conflict in the 1990s in provinces such as Diyarbakır
    and Istanbul, include more than half of the displaced children who
    did not attend any schools," mainly due to poverty and the need to
    work. Roma children also do not attend or drop out of school mainly
    due to poverty.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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