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Today's Zaman, Turkey
Jan 30 2015
Education Ministry continues to profile non-Muslims after scandal
January 30, 2015, Friday/ 16:45:40/ TODAY'S ZAMAN / ISTANBUL
The Education Ministry, whose profiling of non-Muslim citizens based
on ethnicity was revealed in August 2013, still maintains this
practice by investigating the ethnic background of non-Muslim
students, the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos reported on Friday.
In August, it became evident from an official response from the
Education Ministry to a query into the background of a non-Muslim
student that non-Muslim minorities in Turkey were being monitored and
profiled based on their ethnicity. They were also assigned numbers, a
practice that dates back to the establishment of the republic.
The weekly Agos reported on Friday that this practice still continues
despite the reactions that arose after the revelation of the scandal
in August.
According to the report, a 5-year-old boy baptized in an Armenian
church registered at an Armenian kindergarten at the beginning of the
2014-2015 academic year. As part of its normal procedure, school
administrators sent the list of students registered at the school to
the Education Ministry's provincial branch. However, a statement was
sent to the school by the provincial education branch requesting that
school administrators cancel the registration of the boy on the
grounds that the boy was not Armenian according to an investigation
into his background. The provincial branch also requested that school
management inform the parents of the student that they needed to
cancel the student's registration.
In a similar incident, another student registered at an Armenian
school of which his two cousins were graduates. However, the Education
Ministry blocked the registration of this student for the same reason.
The ministry instructed school administrators to cancel the student's
registration. There are several other cases of students facing this
problem.
Speaking with the weekly Agos regarding the issue, an official from
the Education Ministry, who declined to be named due to regulations
prohibiting public officials from speaking to the press, said: `First
of all, the demographic information of the students and ethnic origins
of their parents is researched. If there is no data about their ethnic
origins, the students are prevented from registering at [non-Muslim]
schools. Thus, their [the students'] registrations are refused. We
[the ministry] are looking at the ethnicity of all Armenians, Greeks
and Jews. We do not have a data bank that shows their ethnicity. We
ask the General Directorate of Census and Citizenship Affairs.'
Since 1923, Armenians, Greeks and Jews have been assigned numbers in
official correspondence between government institutions. A letter sent
in August 2013 by the Ä°stanbul Directorate of National Education to
its Å?iÅ?li branch indicates that Armenian citizens are given the number
two. According to this system of codes based on ethnicity, Greeks are
given the number one and Jews the number three.
Non-Muslims react to ministry's long-standing practice
Garo Paylan, an activist working for an Armenian civil society
organization and the manager of an Armenian school, slammed the
ministry's practice, saying that the ministry should stop profiling
non-Muslims as soon as possible. `There is no legal basis for the
ministry to determine which students can attend an Armenian school.
The initiative to determine which students will be registered at the
[Armenian] schools should be left to the school management. A
commission established by school administrators or education
foundations should be able to determine this.'
There is a law regulating which students can attend a non-Muslim
school. According to Law No. 5580 on private educational institutions,
the Education Ministry can determine which students can be registered
at Greek, Armenian and Jewish schools operating in Turkey.
Parents preparing to file complaint against ministry
Parents of the Armenian students whose registrations were cancelled by
the ministry have been preparing to launch legal proceedings against
the ministry. Speaking with the weekly Agos, lawyer Cem Halavurt, who
represents the Armenian parents, said that the ministry's practice is
completely unlawful. `There is no legal basis for it. It is a racist,
arbitrary and discriminative practice. The right to education cannot
be restricted. In an earlier case that we won regarding the same
issue, the court had clearly stated that this practice is unlawful and
said the right to education is one of the main fundamental rights that
should be preserved.'
The lawyer also said that the ministry refuses to stop the practice
despite the court's decision and the reactions that arise among the
non-Muslim communities. Halavurt also emphasized that the schools
should be granted the right to determine which students can register
instead of the ministry.
After Agos revealed the profiling scandal in August 2013, the Interior
Ministry issued a response to Agos' report on Aug. 2, admitting that
the `ancestral codes' had been kept since the Ottoman times and said
they were periodically relayed to the Education Ministry, indicating
that these records are being actively used today. The ministry claimed
the codes were only used for `educational purposes,' as Turkey's three
minority communities -- Jews, Greeks and Armenians -- have the right
to run their own schools as per the Lausanne Treaty of 1923, a right
denied to other minority groups such as the Syriacs.
The response to the scandal has been immense, with community leaders
and intellectuals condemning the code system. Despite the outrage,
however, not a single government member made a statement condemning
the system.
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_education-ministry-continues-to-profile-non-muslims-after-scandal_371266.html
From: A. Papazian
Jan 30 2015
Education Ministry continues to profile non-Muslims after scandal
January 30, 2015, Friday/ 16:45:40/ TODAY'S ZAMAN / ISTANBUL
The Education Ministry, whose profiling of non-Muslim citizens based
on ethnicity was revealed in August 2013, still maintains this
practice by investigating the ethnic background of non-Muslim
students, the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos reported on Friday.
In August, it became evident from an official response from the
Education Ministry to a query into the background of a non-Muslim
student that non-Muslim minorities in Turkey were being monitored and
profiled based on their ethnicity. They were also assigned numbers, a
practice that dates back to the establishment of the republic.
The weekly Agos reported on Friday that this practice still continues
despite the reactions that arose after the revelation of the scandal
in August.
According to the report, a 5-year-old boy baptized in an Armenian
church registered at an Armenian kindergarten at the beginning of the
2014-2015 academic year. As part of its normal procedure, school
administrators sent the list of students registered at the school to
the Education Ministry's provincial branch. However, a statement was
sent to the school by the provincial education branch requesting that
school administrators cancel the registration of the boy on the
grounds that the boy was not Armenian according to an investigation
into his background. The provincial branch also requested that school
management inform the parents of the student that they needed to
cancel the student's registration.
In a similar incident, another student registered at an Armenian
school of which his two cousins were graduates. However, the Education
Ministry blocked the registration of this student for the same reason.
The ministry instructed school administrators to cancel the student's
registration. There are several other cases of students facing this
problem.
Speaking with the weekly Agos regarding the issue, an official from
the Education Ministry, who declined to be named due to regulations
prohibiting public officials from speaking to the press, said: `First
of all, the demographic information of the students and ethnic origins
of their parents is researched. If there is no data about their ethnic
origins, the students are prevented from registering at [non-Muslim]
schools. Thus, their [the students'] registrations are refused. We
[the ministry] are looking at the ethnicity of all Armenians, Greeks
and Jews. We do not have a data bank that shows their ethnicity. We
ask the General Directorate of Census and Citizenship Affairs.'
Since 1923, Armenians, Greeks and Jews have been assigned numbers in
official correspondence between government institutions. A letter sent
in August 2013 by the Ä°stanbul Directorate of National Education to
its Å?iÅ?li branch indicates that Armenian citizens are given the number
two. According to this system of codes based on ethnicity, Greeks are
given the number one and Jews the number three.
Non-Muslims react to ministry's long-standing practice
Garo Paylan, an activist working for an Armenian civil society
organization and the manager of an Armenian school, slammed the
ministry's practice, saying that the ministry should stop profiling
non-Muslims as soon as possible. `There is no legal basis for the
ministry to determine which students can attend an Armenian school.
The initiative to determine which students will be registered at the
[Armenian] schools should be left to the school management. A
commission established by school administrators or education
foundations should be able to determine this.'
There is a law regulating which students can attend a non-Muslim
school. According to Law No. 5580 on private educational institutions,
the Education Ministry can determine which students can be registered
at Greek, Armenian and Jewish schools operating in Turkey.
Parents preparing to file complaint against ministry
Parents of the Armenian students whose registrations were cancelled by
the ministry have been preparing to launch legal proceedings against
the ministry. Speaking with the weekly Agos, lawyer Cem Halavurt, who
represents the Armenian parents, said that the ministry's practice is
completely unlawful. `There is no legal basis for it. It is a racist,
arbitrary and discriminative practice. The right to education cannot
be restricted. In an earlier case that we won regarding the same
issue, the court had clearly stated that this practice is unlawful and
said the right to education is one of the main fundamental rights that
should be preserved.'
The lawyer also said that the ministry refuses to stop the practice
despite the court's decision and the reactions that arise among the
non-Muslim communities. Halavurt also emphasized that the schools
should be granted the right to determine which students can register
instead of the ministry.
After Agos revealed the profiling scandal in August 2013, the Interior
Ministry issued a response to Agos' report on Aug. 2, admitting that
the `ancestral codes' had been kept since the Ottoman times and said
they were periodically relayed to the Education Ministry, indicating
that these records are being actively used today. The ministry claimed
the codes were only used for `educational purposes,' as Turkey's three
minority communities -- Jews, Greeks and Armenians -- have the right
to run their own schools as per the Lausanne Treaty of 1923, a right
denied to other minority groups such as the Syriacs.
The response to the scandal has been immense, with community leaders
and intellectuals condemning the code system. Despite the outrage,
however, not a single government member made a statement condemning
the system.
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_education-ministry-continues-to-profile-non-muslims-after-scandal_371266.html
From: A. Papazian