Istanbul Armenian community discusses school restriction measure

The Union of Armenian Vakifs (Foundations) in Türkiye held a consultation on August 24 regarding a recent decision by the country’s Ministry of Education to prohibit children from Armenia from studying at Armenian minority schools in Istanbul. The measure concerns foreign nationals more broadly and is not limited to Armenian schools, with other minority schools also affected.

Istanbul’s Armenian daily Jamanak reported that the meeting was attended by Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople Archbishop Sahak II, ethnic Armenian MP Sevan Sıvacıoğlu from Türkiye’s ruling Justice and Development Party, Petros Şirinoğlu, chairman of the Union of Foundations and the Surp Pırgiç Armenian Hospital, as well as principals and representatives of Armenian schools.

For around a decade, Turkish authorities had allowed children from Armenia whose parents have work or residence permits in Türkiye to study at Armenian schools in Istanbul under “guest student” status. The children attended all classes alongside Armenian children from Türkiye and took exams, but did not receive official graduation certificates. Instead, they were given documents containing their final grades.

However, inspectors from Türkiye’s Ministry of Education recently informed Armenian schools that children from Armenia would no longer be allowed to continue their education there. Under the new decision, the children must instead attend Turkish public schools.

At the August 24 meeting, Sıvacıoğlu and Şirinoğlu said the current situation had arisen as a result of a number of misunderstandings. In particular, it was noted that different community officials had provided different and conflicting figures at various times regarding the number of “guest students.” Jamanak reported that the meeting expressed the view that this was not a particularly problematic or complicated process and that there was optimism about resolving the issue.

Sıvacıoğlu also said that representatives of Armenian schools in Türkiye will meet with Istanbul Governor Davut Gül on September 28. The agenda will include the seismic reinforcement and resilience of community school buildings.

“Community circles have long been concerned about the structural safety of Armenian school buildings in Türkiye. Professional reports show that their condition is not particularly good. Therefore, state support is expected for reinforcing these buildings,” the daily writes.