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ISTANBUL: High School Project Seeks To End Ethnic Prejudices

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  • ISTANBUL: High School Project Seeks To End Ethnic Prejudices

    HIGH SCHOOL PROJECT SEEKS TO END ETHNIC PREJUDICES

    Today's Zaman
    May 1 2012
    Turkey

    We are inside a 125-year-old school building in Karaköy. Walking
    through narrow halls with high ceilings, one can hear a piano and
    the voices of teachers in the classrooms. I peek through a small
    glass window in a classroom door where students are looking at the
    blackboard. We enter an empty classroom and sit. I turn on my voice
    recorder to capture the thoughts of students from the Mumtaz Soysal
    Social Science High School in Bahcelievler and students of the
    Karaköy Private Getronagan High School concerning their project,
    "AniÅ~_abur/aÅ~_ure," concerning people of different backgrounds
    living together.

    Rumeysa Å~^ahbaz, who came up with the idea for the project, says for
    most people in society it is easy to empathize with others because
    every single person in Turkey has a similar background, having had
    to endure similar pains in the past.

    She first thought of starting a project when it occurred to her that
    most issues that intellectuals and activists frequently talk about
    need to be translated into the language of ordinary people. She shared
    this idea with a classmate, Hane Bolluk. Later, the two talked to
    teachers and through research found the 127-year-old Armenian high
    school Getronagan High in Karaköy.

    Bolluk continues: "Our teachers were very supportive and promised to
    find other students who might be interested. When we first started,
    there were six of us, all of us wearing headscarves. When we first
    went to Getronagan, people were surprised, asking us if we were
    researching colleges. We tried to explain what we wanted to do but
    were unable to. But when the teachers left the room, there was no
    stopping us, and we talked for five hours straight. When we were done,
    I asked if they would be willing to sign the brothers' law protocol
    [a document to indicate the sides' appreciation for their desire to
    work together]. Arden [Akbıyık] looked up and said, 'We don't need
    to sign any protocol, we are already siblings'."

    The Armenian students were curious, asking the reason for the project.

    "We are doing this project to understand ourselves. I need to
    understand the elements that make me the person I am to understand
    myself, as a person with a Turkish identity. The Turkish identity
    feeds on many other cultures in Anatolia: Circassians, Kurds, the
    Laz, Greeks, Armenians and others. These are the cultures that live
    together with me on this land."

    Over the past year, as part of the project, the students of the two
    high schools have been involved in many activities, visiting mosques,
    churches and each other's homes and schools and walking around Beyoglu
    together. Ertugrul CavuÅ~_oglu, a student in the project, says:
    "I had never thought about this issue before. To me, an Armenian was
    like someone living in the Philippines. I had no idea. It turns out
    we were always walking the same streets. My awareness has increased."

    On May 5, the students will give a presentation on their project.

    Armenian and Turkish students will give speeches concerning the
    practice of living together, and academics, such as Ferthat Kentel and
    Atilla Yayla, will speak. Linda Serkizyan, who met Bolluk and Å~^ahbaz
    at an exhibition, will deliver the opening remarks. Serkizyan says:
    "I remember I was going to prep classes in fifth grade when a fellow
    student found out that I am Armenian and asked me: 'You are supposed
    to have a tail. Where is it?' I was shocked. He probably lived two
    streets from me, but had no idea. I am very happy to be a part of
    this project."

    Ahsen Nur Balkan, another participant in the project, says she had
    no idea that there were so many Armenians in Ä°stanbul. "We do live
    together, and we know each other, but we act like we shouldn't know
    each other," she noted.




    From: A. Papazian
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