Parliamentary question submitted to the EU Commission on the educational problems of Western Thrace Turks

European Parliament (EP) MEPs Loránt Vincze (Romania, EPP), François Alfonsi (France, Greens/EFA), Herbert Dorfmann (Italy, EPP) and Yana Toom (Estonia, Renew) submitted a written parliamentary question entitled "Access to quality pre-school education for children belonging to the indigenous community in Western Thrace (Greece)" to the European Union (EU) Commission on Thursday 6 July.

In the parliamentary question submitted with the initiative of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) and co-signed by four MEPs, it was noted that the Turkish community in Western Thrace living in Greece has the right to establish and manage its own schools within the scope of its educational autonomy, but the number of bilingual Turkish primary schools is decreasing due to the state's approach.

In the parliamentary question, it was pointed out that there is not even one bilingual kindergarten in Western Thrace and that the Greek authorities do not respond to the requests of the Turkish community for private kindergartens. It was stated that access to quality early childhood education contributes to the healthy development and educational success of children and that the deprivation of children belonging to the Turkish community from pre-school education in their mother tongue creates inequality in education.

In their parliamentary question, Vincze, Alfonsi, Dorfmann, and Toom asked how the EU could better support Member States in identifying and addressing the challenges in early childhood education, particularly for children from linguistic minority backgrounds.

The four parliamentarians also asked what steps the EU Commission plans to take to ensure that the educational rights of children belonging to the Turkish community are guaranteed in accordance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights and EU legislation.