Tweet
Sunday's Zaman, Turkey
Oct 8 2011
`Guest student' status does not respond to needs of Armenian migrants' children
09 October 2011, Sunday / YONCA POYRAZ DOÄ?AN, Ä°STANBUL
It has been a few weeks since the new school year started but there is
still construction going on in this extraordinary school, where
students are excited about their new desks and chairs even though the
pupils are even more crammed than before because of the size of their
new seats and desks, which are far too big for their small classrooms.
The place is the GedikpaÅ?a Armenian Protestant Church, which opened
its doors this school year to 84 students whose parents are
undocumented immigrants in Turkey from Armenia. The classes are held
in the basement of the church, and some of the makeshift classrooms
have no doors. The classrooms used to be divided by curtains before
board separators were recently installed.
`Thanks to donors from the Armenian community in Ä°stanbul, we have
some more appropriate materials for the children,' Rev. Kirkor
AÄ?abaloÄ?lu of the GedikpaÅ?a Church said.
He said they started out in 2003 with four children, taught by teacher
Heriknaz Avagyan.
`Back then, no school would accept those children,' he said.
This is what happens to children of `illegal Armenian workers' if they
are born in Turkey. Their parents cannot apply for Turkish citizenship
for their child. They cannot go back to Armenia either because then
they will not be able to come back to Turkey; therefore, the child
can't get an Armenian passport. According to laws in Turkey, only
Turkish citizens of Armenian descent are allowed at `Armenian minority
schools' in the country.
`Churches do not just provide religious services. So we took
responsibility and took those children in.'
Since 2003 the number of students has gradually increased even though
the Turkish government has allowed for those children to be accepted
in local Armenian schools as `guest students' this school year.
Only 48 students have been accepted with that status in more than 10
Armenian schools in Ä°stanbul. For example, Bezciyan accepted 11
students and Feriköy Merametçiyan accepted eight, according to figures
from the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos.
Avagyan said she is glad that children who do not have easy access to
schooling at the church can now go to schools in other areas of
Ä°stanbul that are close to where they reside, but she also said that
this is not an ideal situation for those children's education because
there is a likelihood that they will go back to Armenia one day and
they need certificates to prove their educational status.
`What does it mean to be a `guest student'? This is a new program and
there are uncertainties. The Turkish government needs to consider that
those children's parents are not here legally and that when they go
back to Armenia, their children will need proof of their education,'
she said.
At the GedikpaÅ?a Church's school, Armenian teachers, who are also
undocumented immigrants from Armenia, follow the educational calendar
of Armenia, use the books which are used in Armenia and adhere to the
educational system of Armenia in their teaching. They say this is the
only way these children will succeed in their educational life when
they go back to Armenia.
`Parents say it is very important to them that their children learn
the Armenian language,' a teacher from the church-school said.
According to Avagyan, who is married to a Turkish citizen and sends
her child to an Armenian school in Ä°stanbul, the Armenian language is
not much emphasized in the local schools. On top of that, the Armenian
language that they use is different than their version of the language
-- Ä°stanbul's Armenians speak and learn Western Armenian, whereas
Armenians in Armenia speak and learn Eastern Armenian.
`I am now a legal resident of Turkey and my child is a Turkish
citizen. It is fine that my child goes to a local Armenian school. But
for the immigrants, it's a different story. If their children are
educated in local Armenian schools, their further education will be in
jeopardy in Armenia,' she said.
A 2009 study -- the first and only study conducted on the status of
the Armenian migrants in Turkey -- by researcher Alin Ã-zinian found
that the main reasons behind immigration from Armenia to Turkey are
the instability in Armenia that arose after the collapse of the Soviet
Union, the 1988 earthquake in Armenia, tough economic conditions
exacerbated by the closure of the Turkey-Armenia border as well as the
Karabakh dispute. With economic conditions remaining unchanged in
Armenia, the immigrants are likely to stay here as long as they can,
and so will their children.
Avagyan said the best solution for the immigrants' children would be
to continue their education at the church-school.
`But that is only until the fifth grade, since there are no
appropriate conditions for more classes,' she said, and appealed to
the Turkish government to be more considerate.
`Those children need schooling and a diploma until they reach the age
at which they will go to a university,' she added. `Otherwise, most of
those uneducated children will spend their time by playing on the
street unattended. Even though they are smart kids, they will work in
low level and low pay jobs like their parents.'
About 96 percent of the Armenian immigrants in Turkey -- whose numbers
are estimated to be around 15,000 -- are women, and a majority of them
work as house cleaners, nurses or babysitters, according to Alinian's
research. Their monthly income varies between $500 and $1,000, and
they generally reside in İstanbul's Kumkapı district.
`They love Ä°stanbul, and they like Turks,' Rev. AÄ?abaloÄ?lu said. `In
the last 10 years, they have been coming as families, not
individually.'
Therefore, there is even more need to think about those migrants'
children's education, he points out.
`If the government is sincere in its initiatives in that regard, it
should find ways to either integrate those children in the Turkish
education system or make possible a special status for their education
according to the system in Armenia.'
Oct 8 2011
`Guest student' status does not respond to needs of Armenian migrants' children
09 October 2011, Sunday / YONCA POYRAZ DOÄ?AN, Ä°STANBUL
It has been a few weeks since the new school year started but there is
still construction going on in this extraordinary school, where
students are excited about their new desks and chairs even though the
pupils are even more crammed than before because of the size of their
new seats and desks, which are far too big for their small classrooms.
The place is the GedikpaÅ?a Armenian Protestant Church, which opened
its doors this school year to 84 students whose parents are
undocumented immigrants in Turkey from Armenia. The classes are held
in the basement of the church, and some of the makeshift classrooms
have no doors. The classrooms used to be divided by curtains before
board separators were recently installed.
`Thanks to donors from the Armenian community in Ä°stanbul, we have
some more appropriate materials for the children,' Rev. Kirkor
AÄ?abaloÄ?lu of the GedikpaÅ?a Church said.
He said they started out in 2003 with four children, taught by teacher
Heriknaz Avagyan.
`Back then, no school would accept those children,' he said.
This is what happens to children of `illegal Armenian workers' if they
are born in Turkey. Their parents cannot apply for Turkish citizenship
for their child. They cannot go back to Armenia either because then
they will not be able to come back to Turkey; therefore, the child
can't get an Armenian passport. According to laws in Turkey, only
Turkish citizens of Armenian descent are allowed at `Armenian minority
schools' in the country.
`Churches do not just provide religious services. So we took
responsibility and took those children in.'
Since 2003 the number of students has gradually increased even though
the Turkish government has allowed for those children to be accepted
in local Armenian schools as `guest students' this school year.
Only 48 students have been accepted with that status in more than 10
Armenian schools in Ä°stanbul. For example, Bezciyan accepted 11
students and Feriköy Merametçiyan accepted eight, according to figures
from the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos.
Avagyan said she is glad that children who do not have easy access to
schooling at the church can now go to schools in other areas of
Ä°stanbul that are close to where they reside, but she also said that
this is not an ideal situation for those children's education because
there is a likelihood that they will go back to Armenia one day and
they need certificates to prove their educational status.
`What does it mean to be a `guest student'? This is a new program and
there are uncertainties. The Turkish government needs to consider that
those children's parents are not here legally and that when they go
back to Armenia, their children will need proof of their education,'
she said.
At the GedikpaÅ?a Church's school, Armenian teachers, who are also
undocumented immigrants from Armenia, follow the educational calendar
of Armenia, use the books which are used in Armenia and adhere to the
educational system of Armenia in their teaching. They say this is the
only way these children will succeed in their educational life when
they go back to Armenia.
`Parents say it is very important to them that their children learn
the Armenian language,' a teacher from the church-school said.
According to Avagyan, who is married to a Turkish citizen and sends
her child to an Armenian school in Ä°stanbul, the Armenian language is
not much emphasized in the local schools. On top of that, the Armenian
language that they use is different than their version of the language
-- Ä°stanbul's Armenians speak and learn Western Armenian, whereas
Armenians in Armenia speak and learn Eastern Armenian.
`I am now a legal resident of Turkey and my child is a Turkish
citizen. It is fine that my child goes to a local Armenian school. But
for the immigrants, it's a different story. If their children are
educated in local Armenian schools, their further education will be in
jeopardy in Armenia,' she said.
A 2009 study -- the first and only study conducted on the status of
the Armenian migrants in Turkey -- by researcher Alin Ã-zinian found
that the main reasons behind immigration from Armenia to Turkey are
the instability in Armenia that arose after the collapse of the Soviet
Union, the 1988 earthquake in Armenia, tough economic conditions
exacerbated by the closure of the Turkey-Armenia border as well as the
Karabakh dispute. With economic conditions remaining unchanged in
Armenia, the immigrants are likely to stay here as long as they can,
and so will their children.
Avagyan said the best solution for the immigrants' children would be
to continue their education at the church-school.
`But that is only until the fifth grade, since there are no
appropriate conditions for more classes,' she said, and appealed to
the Turkish government to be more considerate.
`Those children need schooling and a diploma until they reach the age
at which they will go to a university,' she added. `Otherwise, most of
those uneducated children will spend their time by playing on the
street unattended. Even though they are smart kids, they will work in
low level and low pay jobs like their parents.'
About 96 percent of the Armenian immigrants in Turkey -- whose numbers
are estimated to be around 15,000 -- are women, and a majority of them
work as house cleaners, nurses or babysitters, according to Alinian's
research. Their monthly income varies between $500 and $1,000, and
they generally reside in İstanbul's Kumkapı district.
`They love Ä°stanbul, and they like Turks,' Rev. AÄ?abaloÄ?lu said. `In
the last 10 years, they have been coming as families, not
individually.'
Therefore, there is even more need to think about those migrants'
children's education, he points out.
`If the government is sincere in its initiatives in that regard, it
should find ways to either integrate those children in the Turkish
education system or make possible a special status for their education
according to the system in Armenia.'