Turks in German state slam proposal to leave Turkish out of school curriculum

By Mesut Zeyrek

COLOGNE, Germany (AA) - Turks in the German state of Hessen expressed anger Thursday over a proposed bill that would leave Turkish lessons out of the school curriculum while offering Polish, Chinese, Portuguese and Arabic as a second language option.

The Hessen State Turkish Associations Initiative Platform released an open letter slamming the proposal, saying "it is unacceptable to ignore the Turkish language and Turkish society in the curriculum" despite the state’s large Turkish population.

The platform said in the letter, which was addressed to the speaker of the Hessen State Parliament, Hessen state prime minister and all parties in parliament, that they were “deeply saddened” by the fact that Turkish is not included in the foreign language options in the curriculum.

Calling the move “humiliating,” it added that the proposal harms the “emotional ties” of the nearly 400,000 Turks living in Hessen while also “inflicting deep wounds” on them.

“The exclusion of Turks, the largest immigrant group in Hesse, under the pretext of a ‘cohesion policy’ is unacceptable," it added.

The letter called on German authorities to “correct this mistake as soon as possible.”