Western Thrace Turkish Teachers’ Union warns of school closures
Aydin Ahmet, president of the Western Thrace Turkish Teachers’ Union, has urged families in Western Thrace to register their children in minority primary schools, highlighting the institutions’ key role in preserving the language, culture, and identity of the Turkish minority.
Speaking to the Anadolu Agency, Ahmet warned that several minority schools are at risk of closure due to low student enrollment.
He reminded parents that registration for primary schools will continue until March 26, emphasizing the importance of these schools for the future of the community.
“Minority schools are extremely important for our children and for the future of our minority community. For this reason, we invite all parents to enroll their children in minority schools,” Ahmet said.
Ahmet also pointed out that there are currently no kindergartens in Western Thrace that provide education in Turkish. As a result, children often learn their mother tongue mainly within the family environment.
According to him, minority schools therefore play a crucial role in ensuring the development of the Turkish language and the preservation of cultural identity.
He stressed that language is not only a means of communication but also a carrier of culture, warning that the weakening of a mother tongue may lead to the gradual erosion of cultural identity.
“Mastery of one’s mother tongue is the strongest barrier against assimilation,” Ahmet said. “Language is not just a communication tool; it is also the carrier of culture. A society that loses its language eventually loses its culture.”
Ahmet also noted that he previously worked as a teacher in Vienna for many years, where he observed the importance of strong mother-tongue education for maintaining cultural identity.
He added that students attending minority schools in Western Thrace tend to use Turkish actively in their daily lives, which further underlines the importance of these institutions.
Ahmet concluded by reminding parents that minority education rights are guaranteed under the Treaty of Lausanne and called on families to make full use of this right in order to prevent school closures due to low enrollment.
