Repressive measures endanger language

It appears that a sizeable part of the islamized Pontians,especially the communities of Trapezous, Tonia, Ophe, Sourmena(Surmene), Matsouka (Macka) as well as those of the peripheral municipalities of Constantinople (Istanbul) have preserved intact their Pontian language. Thus, in those areas, the language which is known to be closest to the ancient Greek is kept alive. In fact, this language is today illegal in Pontos and in Turkey. Of course there is no school where the Pontians could learn, cultivate and develop their language. The existing schools are Turkish. The young Pontian boys and girls – especially those from the inland – due to the fact that their families cling to their own language and do not know Turkish, have their first contact with this language in the Turkish schools and are forced to learn it with harsh educational methods. It is reported that in the elementary schools there exist a network of young student-informers in charge of denouncing to their teachers the Pontian pupils speaking between themselves their own language, who are then taken up by their teachers or even the police with brutal methods of persuasion. In the high schools, the task of terrorization is apparently devoted to racist and fascist groups, like “Grey Wolves.” Those educational conditions exclude the Pontian students from the university and higher studies. Students of Pontian descent who try to express their Pontian conscience and culture through periodicals run a risk of being sentenced to jail by the Turkish authorities.

The Turkish state through policies stemming from its constitutional and legal framework together with its authoritarian structures, eliminates the words Pontos and Pontians, and represses individual and collective attempts of peaceful expression of the thought and conscience of the Pontian identity.

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An ancient culture in jeopardy of survival	\|	Image in Politics

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