Although the number of people living in Anatolia with an Armenian identity has considerably decreased, the Vakıflı village in Hatay continues to exist as an Armenian village.45 In addition, there are Armenian communities of few hundreds living in Anatolian cities.
Lack of schools is an important problem of Anatolian Armenians, especially for those in the village of Vakıflı, which makes it difficult for the children there to learn
45 We should correct here a mistake that is often made in the printed and visual media and on various other platforms.
The village of Vakıflı [Köyü] is mentioned as the only Armenian village in the world outside of Armenia. Yet, there are other Armenian villages both in Syria and in Iran.
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Education or the Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities. A country that desires to catch up with the
contemporary standards in regards to human rights should conform to the norms achieved by the international community, by lifting all reservations and signing all the conventions remaining unsigned.
As a requirement of these norms, the Armenian schools, as well as the other minority schools, should be given a permanent special status by virtue of law.
In the final analysis, these schools are, as put by a participant who works as a teacher, “not private schools but schools with particularities” and should be evaluated within that framework. Solution to the problems of these schools should not be tied to the changing conditions of the day or to the macro politics, leaving them to uncertainty and instability, but should be addressed within a legal framework.
Moreover, such law should be shaped on the basis of positive discrimination for the survival of these institutions. Granting some rights and freedoms to Armenian schools by the state today will not be enough, so the state should also provide operational and financial support in order to bring these rights to fruition. For example, it should provide direct and practical assistance in the preparation of school books, in the training of teachers, and in closing the budget deficits. In line with these goals, it would also be beneficial to establish a dedicated unit under the MNE. This unit can prepare, and coordinate all the textbooks and other educational materials in the Armenian language. Some people may raise objections and say taking these steps would create some inequalities in favour of minority schools.
However, considering that the state policies
implemented for decades played a significant role for such a weakening and underachievement of the Armenian society in Turkey in general and the Armenian schools in particular, this would be, in a sense, “a compensation or reparation of the past”. In the words of one participant, “positive discrimination is the antidote of the poison of discrimination that has been injected for years”. In addition, the international Armenian. An anecdote told by a participant from the
Vakıflı village should be repeated here, as it is a good example illustrating the consequences of this problem:
I went to university in Elazığ. During my university years, there were 20 Armenian families there. None of them could read Armenian. They received a calendar (datebook) from the Patriarchate and checked it to see when the holy days or lent were; but the calendar was in Armenian. Every week, someone would invite me to their home and asked me to read and tell when we are celebrating the Zadik (Easter). I would read them the dates from the calendar. My fear is that the Vakıflı Village will also find itself in the same situation in the future.
EVALUATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
As with many other problems for the Armenians, one of the main reasons behind the education problems is the lack of legal arrangements based on legal equality. At this point, it seems like the state is stuck between the Treaty of Lausanne and the UN Conventions, which are based on contemporary human rights, and also the EU standards. As such, Turkey signed on 15 August 2000 the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1966 and which came into force in 1976. However, with reservations to Article 27, which makes reference to minority rights, by declaring it reserves the right to interpret and apply the provisions of Article 27 in accordance with the related provisions and rules of the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey and the Treaty of Lausanne. Similarly, Turkey ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child reserving the right to interpret and apply Articles 17, 29 and 30 according to the letter and spirit of the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey and those of the Treaty of Lausanne. The possible motivation behind these reservations is the willingness to prevent any demands for rights on the basis of the identities of minorities. Apart from these, there are also conventions that Turkey has not signed, such as the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in
47 and practices of the relevant countries on these
matters”. In the advanced democracies of today that are based on human rights, a state treating its own citizens on the basis of a principle such as
“reciprocity” is, in its mildest expression, an incorrect approach. What is most important is citizenship rights and moreover, human rights. Besides, if we look at this issue from the perspective of Armenians of Turkey, the following question will have to be asked: What kind of a tie is assumed between the Armenians of Turkey and the country of Greece, along with the other states parties to Lausanne, that reciprocity with the Muslim Turks in those countries is sought in any political and administrative decision that concern them?
If the measures mentioned above are accomplished, the general quality of education in Armenian schools will rise. Furthermore, the ratio of students entering universities, which is currently found too small by parents, will rise in time, which will contribute to an increase in the number of students.
standards of advanced democracies also accept the protection of minority languages and cultures through positive discrimination measures as a norm.
The principle of reciprocity that is practiced by the state on the basis of the Treaty of Lausanne lies at the heart of some of the problems mentioned above (as in the example of the vice-principal position).
Reciprocity, which is foreseen as a practice of one state towards the citizens of another state, is practiced by the Republic of Turkey towards its own citizens. Whenever a positive step is going to be taken towards Turkey’s non-Muslim citizens, parallelism with the practices of Greece towards its Muslim Turkish minority is observed, or even laid as a condition. The education policies that concern the minorities are also directly affected from this general view. As such, in Article 5 of the Law no. 5580 on Private Education Institutions, it is stated that any regulations concerning the minority schools “shall be prepared in consideration of the reciprocal legislations
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