By Thompson ABISOLA
The German Embassy in Ankara has initiated talks with the Turkish Government to reverse the closing of a German School in the Mediterranean Port City of Izmir, the German Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
Ambassador Martin Erdmann had met with representatives of the Turkish foreign and education ministries on Thursday, the Foreign Ministry in Berlin said in response to a request for information.
The school, a branch of the private school in the German embassy in Ankara, remained closed, the ministry said, while expressing “confidence that it will open in time for teachin’’ at the start of the next academic year, which begins at the end of August.
The Berlin Foreign Ministry statement made clear that the Turkish authorities were concerned not only about the Izmir school, but that the talks involved “open questions regarding all three German embassy schools in Turkey.’’
The reasons for the Izmir school closure, which occurred at the end of June, just after pupils had started their summer holiday, remain unclear.
A spokesperson for the education authorities in Izmir said on Friday that it had infringed the law on private schools.
Head teacher Dirk Philippi told dpa following the closure that education officials, who were accompanied by the police, said a “legal basis’’ for the school was lacking.
The closure is set to generate renewed tension between the two countries.
The detention in 2017 of several Germans, including journalist Deniz Yucel and human rights activist Peter Steudtner, strained relations.
Both have since left Turkey but are facing trials in absentia.
