Historical Phanar Greek Orthodox College Searching for Building

This year, 31 students are receiving education at the 571-year-old school. However, the school administration is facing a new problem. An official letter was sent to the school administration by the Ministry of National Education regarding making the school building earthquake-resistant. The letter stated that the building needs reinforcement work and must be vacated within the legal period of 90 days.

The official letter reached the school administration shortly after schools opened on September 8. The school building was requested to be vacated within 90 days for earthquake reinforcement work to be carried out. However, the Phanar Greek Orthodox College Foundation is not in a position to cover the reinforcement costs. According to school principal Dimitri Zotos, the cost is over 10 million Euros. The school administration, not wanting to disadvantage the students, has begun searching for a new building to continue education.

Speaking to Agos, Zotos stated that they were not previously aware that the building would be vacated and that the process is a recent development. Zotos, who mentioned that Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin visited the school in 2023 and conveyed some issues regarding the building to them, stated that the Istanbul Governorate showed interest in the matter and certain work was carried out. Zotos said:

"All schools in Turkey are required to conduct earthquake resistance work. This is quite a costly undertaking. We didn't have the budget to cover this cost, so we applied to the Ministry of National Education. During Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin's visit to our school in 2023, we conveyed the situation to him. He showed interest. We needed to have testing done because it kept coming up. Work was carried out with the Ministry's request and the Istanbul Governorate's support. However, this new development occurred in mid-September. We thought such a possibility could exist, but we didn't think the situation could be serious enough to require us to leave the school. We were asked to vacate the school within the legal process and continue education in another building."

Zotos, who said they need to move to a new building within 90 days, stated, "We don't want to disadvantage the students, this is our priority." Zotos, noting that the Phanar Greek Orthodox College Foundation is not in a position to cover the building reinforcement work, said the matter is known within the Greek community and continued: "We conveyed the situation to all institutions within our community. People are informed, and those dealing with foundation matters within the community know that our financial resources are insufficient for this."

"We must seek the solution within our own community"

Due to the Greek population declining to as low as 2,500, many Greek schools have been forced to close over the years due to lack of students. Today, closed Greek schools host various cultural and artistic activities. Dimitri Zotos, who stated that there are many unused school buildings, said, "We also don't want to leave our school and move to a school building with unsuitable physical conditions. In terms of seismic analysis, the building must be suitable for education."

Zotos stated that they are considering all possibilities and have alternative plans if the problem cannot be resolved within the community, but they don't want to express this at the moment. Zotos stated, "We must seek the solution within our own community. If we cannot solve it, we will knock on every door."

This year, no new student registration was made to the middle school section of Phanar Greek Orthodox College. Following Agos's news report, the school received one new registration. The school is currently continuing its educational life with 31 students. To the question "Are parents considering transferring their children's registration to another Greek school?" Zotos gave this answer:

"We are currently in search of a solution. Our primary goal is for Phanar Greek Orthodox College which has been open for 571 years, to continue its educational activities under the same name. But if we cannot achieve this, we have alternative solutions that we don't want to put on the table yet. We will find a solution that won't disadvantage the students."
Zotos, who stated that the physical condition of the building is not poor but experts conveyed to them that certain reinforcement work needs to be done, said the reinforcement cost could be over 10 million Euros.