knowledge segment, a section of the test that non-Muslims are exempt from taking. The error was subsequently corrected by the Ministry of Education following complaints from minority schools, but not before significant panic was felt among Armenian students. Issues like these are minor discrepancies that reflect the larger problems that Armenian schools contend with today.Armenian schools in Turkey face significant financial, legal and logistical difficulties. Another major obstacle is the fear of reprisal for openly discussing these issues with the press. Armenian educators see discrimination against non-Muslim communities and their institutions to still be deeply ingrained in the state apparatus. Sunday’s Zaman was able to visit two schools and talk to several teachers and principals, most of whom requested that their names not be printed. They explained that they feared investigation by the Ministry of Education if they consult with the media without obtaining official permission.
“We are in an odd position, as we are considered neither a private nor a state school,” said one middle school principal. Minority schools indeed occupy a murky status. Armenians, Greeks and Jews, who comprise the three “official” minorities of Turkey, are allowed to maintain their own religious and educational facilities, but with major caveats. Only Turkish citizens who have at least one parent of Armenian origin are allowed to attend Armenian schools. The status of the schools falls in a bizarre grey area that seems to maximize state intrusion and control. The state appoints the deputy principal as well as teachers of Turkish history, language, literature and geography. Their salaries are paid by the state, while the remainder of the operational costs fall on the shoulders of the parents, private donors and foundations. The schools are required to admit students regardless of their ability to pay for the costs of education, a source of continual tension and financial strain.
Nowadays there are just 16 schools and 3,000 students. All of these schools are in İstanbul, where the majority of Turkey’s 60,000 Armenians lives. Student enrollment today is half of what it was 30 years ago. The situation was entirely different in the late Ottoman period, when there were nearly 2,000 Armenian schools throughout Anatolia, comprising over 170,000 students.
Prior to World War I, 2 million Armenians resided in the Ottoman Empire, primarily in the eastern provinces of what is now Turkey. Less than a decade later, that number had fallen to less than half a million. In 1915, hundreds of thousands of Ottoman Armenians were uprooted and forced to march to the deserts of Syria. Armenians argue that up to 1.5 million people were massacred, and consider the events to be genocide, while Turkey refuses to accept such claims, asserting that the deaths that occurred during the deportations were often circumstantial and that there were numerous casualties on both sides.
Following the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923, the number of Armenians continued to dwindle following a series of policies and events that targeted non-Muslim communities. The Wealth Tax of 1942 ostensibly sought to fund a potential entry into World War II, but it was disproportionately implemented towards non-Muslims. Property was seized and auctioned off and many who were unable to pay were sent to labor camps in the harsh eastern province of Erzurum. Armenians were taxed at the highest rate.
“There are major financial difficulties, and discrepancies with teaching material. The state has never supported us,” said another principal who wished to remain anonymous. Another constant source of tension is the lack of academic freedom: “There is a major identity problem. We are not permitted to teach anything that has to do with our own history as Armenians. The only Armenian courses we are permitted to teach are language and literature.”
This intrusion and academic freedom are the biggest troubles that Armenian schools continue to face, according to one high school English teacher: “We cannot choose our Turkish history and geography teachers. They are sent by the Ministry of Education. Sometimes we face difficulties and they don’t take our school into consideration. They have a schedule, they have their books from the Ministry of Education, and they teach what they have to teach, the official history according to the state.”
This situation, however, used to be much worse: “Nowadays we don’t have highly nationalist Turkish teachers in our schools. In my time it was worse,” the English teacher continued. “Once, when I was a high school student, our Turkish vice principal told us to come to the music room. She told us that we didn’t sing the national anthem with enough enthusiasm and that we would have to sing it again. She made us sing it 10 times. It was like torture.”
Dwindling support from the Armenian community itself is the foremost setback, according to the middle school principal: “Armenian families are sending their students to private schools and other foreign language schools. Foreign languages like French and English are held in higher regard. Learning Armenian is no longer seen as necessary.”
Presently, less than 50 percent of İstanbul’s Armenian students attend Armenian schools. İstanbul’s rapid expansion is also a concern, as Armenian schools are in centrally located districts. “There are Armenian families living in [İstanbul’s outer Anatolian-side districts of] Kartal and Pendik; they don’t want to send their children to our schools since they are so far away,” the principal continued.
The past several years have also witnessed an influx of Armenians from Armenia migrating to İstanbul to find work. The children of these Armenian immigrants, most of whom stay in Turkey illegally, were not permitted to attend Armenian schools until 2011, when a legal alteration enabled them to begin enrolling as guest students. However, these children are not officially registered and cannot obtain report cards or diplomas, effectively barring them from pursuing higher education.
The students at both schools that Sunday’s Zaman visited all speak fluent Armenian. Most of them learned the language beginning in primary school. One 11th grade student remarked that while she and her brother were able to speak Armenian, their parents had never learned the language. Another student said that her parents only permit her to speak Armenian at home. However, the students primarily speak Turkish together, and it is the language with which they feel most comfortable. When Sunday’s Zaman asked a group of students if they ever speak Armenian together, one 11th grader smirked and replied, “We do when we are gossiping about someone in public.”
The great problems faced by Armenian schools today reflect the century of tragedy and discrimination endured by Armenians living in Turkey, and not being able to explore this legacy freely in their own institutions is the most fundamental deficiency, according to the high school principal. “Having no past is like having Alzheimer’s,” the administrator remarked glumly.