LETTER FROM ISTANBUL
Worried parents who speak only in veiled terms, silent school management, two foreign affairs ministries in Germany and France who prefer to remain silent, for fear of upsetting Ankara even more: since the brutal decision, announced in the middle of summer, by the Turkish Minister of National Education, Yusuf Tekin, to ban any new registration of Turkish or dual-national students in the two French schools and the three German establishments in the country, the foreign teaching community and its supervisory authorities have given, on the eve of the opening of classes, a troubling feeling of unease and collective helplessness.
The object of Turkish wrath? The demand for “reciprocity” reiterated for years by Ankara, which is asking to open Turkish law schools on French and German soil, like these five French and German schools in Turkey. A thorny subject that has continued to poison relations between the capitals and on which Paris and Berlin have until today opposed a refusal.
At the beginning of the year, rumors relayed by the Turkish press had mentioned the intention of the authorities to simply close access to these schools to students of Turkish nationality. It should be noted that the French high schools Charles-de-Gaulle, in Ankara, and Pierre-Loti, in Istanbul, do not exist under Turkish law. Initially opened for the children of diplomats, these private schools are in fact subject to French law. However, these establishments, which have some 2,400 students, today mainly welcome Turkish and dual national middle and high school students, like the German schools.
“Gateway to Erdogan’s ideologies”
Following a meeting with the Turkish minister, the French embassy had forwarded a draft administrative agreement in the spring. Meetings and consultations were being organized at the academic and ministerial levels. And then, at the beginning of July, the tone suddenly rose. “The Turkish side has given us a draft agreement that goes beyond the proposals discussed so far”the French embassy said in a letter sent to the parents of the students. This was followed by a « note verbale » Turkish authorities, presented in the form of an ultimatum.
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A telling indicator of the continuing deterioration in bilateral relations is the public reproaches made by Minister Yusuf Tekin. On July 13, in an interview with the pro-government newspaper Haberturkhe denounces the« arrogance » from France before getting carried away: “We are not like the countries you colonized. We are a sovereign state. If you want to teach here, you have to act on our terms.”
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