Children of undocumented Armenians may be educated in Turkey

Children of undocumented Armenians may be educated in Turkey
Thursday, March 25, 2010

VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Children of undocumented Armenian workers, often educated in illegal underground schools, may soon have hope for better days and better classrooms. Two top leaders, one from the ruling party and one from the Armenian patriarchate, say there are plans in the works to make it easier for these children to enroll as students in legitimate schools

In a seeming dramatic reversal, a top official has hinted at providing education for children of undocumented Armenians, just days after Turkey’s prime minister talked of “sending them back to their own country.”

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç’s comments about education hit the headlines of daily Hürriyet on Thursday, leaving some Armenians saying they feel like they are being used as “political tools,” while others praised the move.

“This is a political maneuver,” said an Armenian who has been working in Turkey for 14 years as an undocumented household servant and declined to give her name. “The mentality that raised the possibility of sending us back [to Armenia] now talks about our children’s right to have an education here.”

Another undocumented Armenian working at the marketplace in Istanbul’s Kumkapı neighborhood praised the move, with reservations. “This is a much-delayed decision. My child is 15 years old now,” she said, noting that none of her children have been able to attend school. “But better late than never.”

The conflicting statements coming from top Turkish officials are confusing, to say the least, say many undocumented Armenians living in the country. “I felt like a political tool last week,” another said, referring to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s statements about sending undocumented workers back to Armenia.

“A week later and they are now talking about [education]. Let’s see what will happen next week,” she said, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

Promises from top official

Hürriyet reported Thursday that Archbishop Aram Ateşyan, the head of the spiritual council of the Patriarchate of Armenians in Turkey, had met with Deputy Prime Minister Arınç. Ateşyan said Arınç promised to act on the education issue.

Arınç told the newspaper that providing education would not only be good for the children of undocumented Armenians in Turkey, but for Armenians who are “in Turkey for a reason.”

“Turkey would not be harmed if those children studied in schools too,” he said. “Personally, I believe that children [of undocumented Armenians] should be able to go to school, if we look at the issue from a humanitarian perspective.”

According to Arınç, the prime minister had also expressed some support for the idea that children of non-Muslims who are living in Turkey “for a reason” should be able to study at existing schools for minorities. Arınç said Erdoğan had entrusted the issue to Education Minister Nimet Çubukçu.

In December, the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review featured a story on Armenian children receiving education at illegal schools in Istanbul and asked for a response from Ateşyan, who refused to comment. Meetings similar to the one between Arınç and Ateşyan have subsequently been held behind closed doors, the Daily News has learned.

Leading names from the Armenian community in Istanbul have reportedly met recently with government officials, but issued no statement. A similar meeting will be held between an Armenian businessman from Istanbul and Prime Minister Erdoğan on Monday, the Daily News has learned.

No reply from Education Ministry

The manager of an Armenian school in Istanbul, however, told Daily News that the school had applied to the Education Ministry in November – along with the managers of 18 Armenian minority schools – but could not get a reply on the issue.

Even the sibling of an individual who worked for some time for the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization’s Armenian office was in the same situation when he was in Istanbul, the manager said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “[He] applied for two years [continuously],” the manger said. “He was considered a tourist in Turkey. The permission [for his child] was given only when his duty was almost over.”

Another school manager, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, characterized Arınç’s statements as the acknowledgement of a right.

“It is not a gift,” she said. “Children have been deprived of their right to an education. This is a human rights problem.”