Armenian educational institutions in Istanbul are in fatal situation

The Armenian community in Istanbul is on the brink of forgetting its mother language, Coordinator of Educational Commission in Istanbul and Administrator for educational affairs at the Yesilkoy School Garo Paylan told Turkish news website Bianet.

According to him, there are almost no teachers of Armenian language at the Armenian teaching institutions, and Armenian children are gradually forgetting their mother language as a result. On top of that, there are still no chairs of Armenian Studies at the Turkish universities.

“The number of people having an academic command of the Western Armenian is very few – 5-10 people. Armenian is already less spoken in families. And we try to teach the children Armenian, which they can use only in their daily life. We have only old books at hand. It’s a pity we have not been able to make more investments in the sphere of language. In that matter we have failed in our duties for 30 consecutive years,” said Mr Paylan.

“This year a department of Armenian language and literature opened in Erciyes University, and currently preparations are underway. There are even no professors in that department. We are discussing whether the courses should be delivered in Western or Eastern Armenian,” he added.