Turkey Opens Unlicensed State School in Batumi

BATUMI, Georgia - Turkey opened its first state-run school in Georgia's Black Sea city Batumi on September 19.

The 24-classroom Batumi Turkish School can accommodate up to 170 students and 25 teachers. The school will follow the Turkish curriculum and be supervised by Turkey’s National Education Ministry.

The opening ceremony was attended by representatives of the Turkish Ministry of Education, as well as the diplomatic mission of Turkey in Georgia.

Batumi City Hall, however, claims that the school had not acquired a construction license and has been fined three times for a total of 9,000 GEL.

The City Hall's Supervisory Service has said the school must acquire an official permit or it may have to be demolished.

Georgia’s Education Minister, Alexander Jejelava, said his office and the Turkish Embassy in Georgia had held consultations over the school and agreed that the school would be authorized under Georgian legislation. However, he said that if the school has no construction permission, it will be in violation of the law.

Jejelava also expressed dissatisfaction that the school leadership decided not to invite Ministry officials to the opening ceremony.

“I’m sure that in the end we will overcome this difficulty and will end up with a very good educational institution accredited under Georgian legislation,” Jejelava said.

The Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports of Adjara said they had also not been informed about the opening of the school.

The Consul General of Turkey, Yasin Temizkan, explained that Turkey has a number of schools abroad that operate under the subordination of Turkey’s Ministry of Education. The new school in Adjara is only for Turkish children whose families live in Batumi, adding the teachers in the school are Turkish citizens as well.

Temizkan said the building was built by an unnamed philanthropist, and the Consulate was not involved in the construction process. Temizkan promised to look into any violations that may have occurred during the construction of the building.

He also claimed that the school has not officially opened, which explains why the Georgian side was not invited to the recent opening ceremony.

“The official opening is planned in the near future and members of the Georgian government will be invited to it,” Temizkan said.

He went on to say that the Turkish side fully intends to teach the Georgian language to Turkish children attending the new school.

“Our relations with Georgia are deepening in all fields, and we would like to strengthen these ties in education as well,” Temizkan said, adding that the opening of Georgian schools in Turkey was also under consideration.

By Thea Morrison

Edited by Nicholas Waller