THE OATH OF TURKISH PUPILS FOR ASSIMILATION POLICY
Aysor.am
Aug 7 2009
Armenia
"The usual school day in Turkish schools starts with the oath which is
called the pupil’s oath. There are a lot of deep ideological elements,
quotings from Ataturk: The oath starts with the follwing words:
"I am a Turk, I am right, I am laborious",- and ends with the famous
words of Ataturk "How happy I am that I am a Turk", – informed the
journalists the Turkologist Ruben Melqonyan.
The speaker examining this issue through the official records of
Turkey according which there are 40 ethnic groups living in the country
thinks that this process has an obvious "assimilation, chauvinistic"
nature as the new generation of the ethnic groups everyday is changing
its originality, repeating how happy he is that he is Turk.
But according the Turkologist not everything is that much fluent. A
movement melting the ice has started in Diarbeqir; an organization
of lawyers has appeared with an appeal and has appeared in
the Constitutional Court with a request to recognize this oath
anti-constitutional.
"Even in Diarbeqir streets one can see posters which call for
abrogating that oath. It is a way which will take Turkey to erosion and
breaking of taboos and to destroying of them", said Ruben Melqonyan.
"There is one more expression on the posters of Diarbeqir, which
says "not I am not a Turk, but I am Armenian, I am Qurd", that is
to say the representatives of those ethnic groups are rising", –
noted R. Melkonyan.