Rizokarpaso Primary School is a Greek-Cypriot primary school in Rizokarpaso, in Northern Cyprus. For a number of years it was the only Greek language school in Northern Cyprus. It is notable in that it has regularly appeared in the media when primary school teachers are prevented from teaching there by the government of Northern Cyprus. Teachers such as Eleni Foka, Alexia Koukotsika, and her husband Grigoris Koukotsikas. The basic human right of the right to education was violated by the government.
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Eleni Foka was not only prevented from returning to her village and the primary school but she was discriminated against and mistreated in such a way that it was necessary to go to the European Court of Human Rights for justice.[1] Eleni has more recently joined a class action where the "‘TRNC’ [is] targeted as a commercial enterprise".[2]
Alexia Koukotsikas (Greek: Αλεξία Κουκότσικας), also known as Alexandra Koukotsika (Greek: Αλεξάνδρα Κουκότσικα), and Alexia Koulia-Koukotsika (Greek: Αλεξία Kουλία-Κουκότσικα), and her husband Grigoris Koukotsikas (Greek: Γρηγόρης Κουκότσικας), also known as Grigoris Koukotsika (Greek: Γρηγόρης Κουκότσικα), and Grigori Koukotsika (Greek: Γρηγόρη Κουκότσικα), were primary school teachers who taught at Rizokarpaso Primary School in Northern Cyprus who were prevented, together with their children, from returning to their village and primary school by the government of Northern Cyprus.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
The plight of the Koukotsikas family was raised by MEP Dimitris Tsatsos at the European Parliament and in the Parliament of Cyprus by the President of the House of Representatives (Mr Demetris Christofias).[3][11] The Cypriot Financial Mirror newspaper has recorded that as recently as September 2008, the government of Northern Cyprus has prevented schoolteachers from returning to the primary school in Rizokarpaso.[12]