A circular released by the Turkish education ministry has removed powers and responsibilities previously held by mandatory Turkish deputy headmasters appointed to private schools set up by minority ethnic groups, relative to their own ethnic minority headmaster.
Dated March 24, the circular has demoted the Turkish deputy head in the school hierarchy, so that he is no longer the superior of the ethnic minority headmaster in the eyes of the state and no longer in charge of the entire staff.
Under the new measure, the Turkish deputy head is considered second-in-command after the minority head for Turkish teachers, though his position within schools remains.
The problems presented by the institution of the Turkish deputy head master in minority schools had been raised by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in a letter sent to the Turkish education ministry as far back as 2003. The practice of appointing a Turkish administrator to the schools of Greek, Armenian and Jewish minorities was first established in 1937, rescinded in 1949 and restored in 1962.
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