Syriac MP Tuma Çelik to Turkish Education Minister: When will students finally be able to take elective school courses in the Syriac language?

ANKARA/MARDIN – Syriac MP of the Turkish Grand National Assembly has submitted parliamentary questions to Education Minister Mahmut Özer regarding the elective courses offered in Turkish primary schools, and why it still excludes the possibility for students to follow Syriac language classes. Syriac, part of the Aramaic language family, is one of the oldest indigenous languages of the Republic of Turkey.

Students in Turkey have to make their choices for the elective language courses they want to follow for the year 2021-2022. Within the range op language options under the school program Living Languages and Dialects, courses can be taken by fifth to eight graders in Albanian, Kurmanci, Zaza, Laz, Georgian, Bosnian and the Caucasian Adyghe and Abaza languages.

Armenians, Greeks and Jews can also receive education in their own language, albeit under limited conditions. The Syriac people, however, still do not have the opportunity to follow classes in their mother tongue. Criticizing this unfair status of one of the oldest living languages in Turkey, Independent Member of Turkish Parliament for Mardin Tuma Çelik has asked the following questions to the Minister of Education;

1. Is the Syriac language taught as an elective course in schools?
2. How many students can take Syriac language lessons?
3. Which elective courses are offered in which provinces in Turkey?
4. What is the student distribution over the different elective courses last year?
5. Do you intend any work on enabling Syriac children to receive education in their own language?

Okullarda, Yaşayan Diller ve Lehçeler kapsamı altında sunulan seçmeli derslere ilişkin olarak Milli Eğitim Bakanı Mahmut Özer'in yanıtlaması istemiyle soru önergesi verdik. pic.twitter.com/wcdfSxYr9G

— Tuma Çelik (@tuma_celik) February 2, 2022