Three Greek schools to close in TurkeyApril 9, 2011 - 12:27 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Three schools belonging to Istanbul’s Greek community will be formally closed due to lack of students, paving the way for the group to capitalize on the long-empty buildings’ value, according to foundation representatives. The community has been unsuccessfully appealing to the authorities for years to close down the schools. Laki Vingas, a member of the General Directorate of Foundations and spokesperson for Greek Foundations in Turkey, said recently: “We haven’t had any students for years. This is a favorable decision.” A recent court decision granted the community the authority to close down the Private Kurtuluş Greek Primary School in Şişli, the Arnavutköy Primary School in Beşiktaş and the Balat Ioakimion Girls’ Lyceum in Fatih. Only nine Greek community schools remain in operation following the closures; in 1870, 40 schools were operating. Vingas said he was satisfied with the decision to close down the dormant schools after years of struggle as the community will now be able to gain income by turning over the empty buildings to other uses after long having been prevented from doing so, Hürriyet Daily News reported. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |