Gökçeada Greek high school will not open in 2014, after 50-year closure

Okan Konuralp ANKARA

The Education Ministry did not grant permission for opening of Greek High Hchool on the grounds that the school’s building was not physically prepared.

Gökçeada’s Greek High School was unable to open this year, after the Education Ministry did not grant permission on the grounds that the school’s building was not physically prepared for the academic year as of Sept. 1.

Gökçeada’s Greek community established the İmroz Education and Culture Association on April 18 to open the high school on the island.

After remaining closed for 50 years, the Private Gökçeada Greek Primary School was reopened in 2013. Located in the island’s Zeytinli village, the school only had four students from the small minority population.

The school anticipated opening this year with eight students whose families, rooted in Gökçeada, were returning from Greece.

Laki Vingas, the elected representative of the Non-Muslim Foundations in Turkey and Council Member of the General Directorate of Foundations in Ankara, said the community needed the state’s support. He said they offered the use of a primary school in Zeytinliköy until the maintenance work at the school was completed, but the plan was not approved.

“We were told this issue would be solved with the omnibus bill, but this did not take place,” Vingas said. “The authorities demand that we wait for a year, but our eight students were ready to go to school.”