Children’s education main worry for Armenian migrants

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News
Tuesday, February 16, 2010

With the number of illegal Armenian workers in Turkey often exaggerated by officials for political gain, the most pressing problem for the community remains educating its children, who are not permitted to study at either Turkish public schools or institutions run by local Armenians. At present, there are somewhere between 6,000 and 70,000 Armenians illegally residing in Turkey 

Obscured by debates about the numbers of illegal Armenian migrants in Turkey that are rooted more in fiction than fact, the community is most preoccupied with educating its children, according to a recent study.

The conclusions regarding the migrant community – which is estimated at anywhere between 6,000 and 70,000 people – were announced at a press conference Monday by Alin Özinian, who headed the report for the Eurasia Partnership Foundation.

In addition to concerns over education, Özinian said one of the primary goals of the study, which was conducted in Istanbul, İzmir, Antalya and Trabzon, was to determine the actual number of Armenian citizens living in Turkey.

Immigration from Armenia began following independence in 1991 and increased especially between 2002 and 2007.

The presence of illegal Armenian workers in the country first attracted attention in 2000 when opposition leader Tansu Çiller said 30,000 should be deported if the United States officially recognizes Armenian genocide claims.

In 2005, then-Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül said there were 40,000 Armenian workers in the country. One year later, Justice and Development Party, or AKP, deputy Yaşar Yakış said there were 70,000 illegal Armenians in Turkey and encouraged their expulsion due to pressure from the Armenian diaspora.

In recent times, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said there were 170,000 Armenians living in Turkey, 70,000 of who were legal residents. “Most probably, the prime minister was talking about the Turkish Armenian community in Turkey when he was referring to those with legal status,” said Özinian.

State officials have been unable to determine the actual number of Armenian citizens in the country, said Özinian. “I find their explanation for the absence of correct numbers acceptable – after all, you can’t have accurate figures about illegal migration.”

Subtracting the number of Armenians departing from those arriving, Özinian said there are at least 6,000 Armenian citizens in the country, adding that the maximum was 10,000.

A journalist from the weekly Agos, meanwhile, estimated the number at between 12,000 and 14,000 based on Ministry of Labor statistics.

Ultimately, however, Özinian said the research’s main goal was to expose social and legal problems facing Armenian migrants, adding that providing education to an estimated 800 children was the community’s most pressing worry.

Turkish schools, including ones run by the country’s native Armenian community, only admit the children of legally resident guardians, meaning the children of illegal Armenian workers are prevented from attending classes.

Children born in Turkey to illegal Armenian parents are typically left in legal limbo as they can neither receive Turkish citizenship nor acquire an Armenian passport when the parents are forced to stay in Turkey for fear of being refused re-entry should they return to Armenia.

As a result, most of the children spend their time playing on the streets and often become involved in crime. Although older Armenians attempt to provide the children some education in clandestine schools, the education is largely rudimentary.

Özinian said the Armenian Patriarchate has proposed a solution to the government but details remain vague.

The study also indicated the considerable fear many Armenians had before coming to Turkey, but that the mistrust changed drastically after arrival.

The report said 94 percent of the workers are women, with the majority involved in domestic cleaning work.

Despite the presence of many illegal Russian and Moldovan workers, Turkish families typically prefer Armenians because of cultural similarities, the research said.

Political problems between the two countries, however, often strain relationships between Turkish employers and Armenian workers. One 38-year-old female worker said: “My Turkish boss criticizes me for the politics between Armenia and Turkey. He always says: ‘We give you people jobs and money, but you are always ungrateful. You are talking about the genocide all the time.’ I feel very bad. I curse my fate.”

According to Özinian, however, the majority of people are indifferent to politics due to preoccupation with economic survival.

Relationship with Turkish Armenians

The research further said the relationship between Armenian migrants and native Turkish Armenians is complicated. Local Armenians, who total roughly 60,000, could potentially provide jobs to the migrants but their relations are often complicated because of cultural and class differences.

Illustrating this point, a 46-year-old woman identified only by her initials A.B., said: “Native Armenians are an entirely different subject. Everyone thinks we have solidarity, but there’s none. They look down on us. In their opinion, we are peasants and we know nothing.”