Independent Syriac Member of Turkish Parliament Tuma Çelik highlights situation of Turkish schools

ANKARA — Independent Syriac Member of Turkish Parliament Tuma Çelik questioned the Turkish Minister of Education, Mahmud Ozer, about the state of private minority schools.

Çelik asked about plans to help those schools that are experiencing difficult financial conditions.

MP Çelik  said that private schools are considered a basic right of minorities according to the Treaty of Lausanne. However, schools belonging to people’s endowments always suffer from financial difficulties and obstacles because the endowments depend on the assistance provided by their members.

Considering this, Çelik questioned whether or not the minister had plans to assist these schools. He also wondered about the minister’s provision of aid to the schools over the past twenty years.

MP Çelik concluded by asking Minister Ozer whether he plans to open the Mother Language Foundation of the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people.