‘Who do you like most, Erdoğan or Gülen?’ Turkish teacher asks primary school students


Date posted: September 28, 2016

A religious culture and moral knowledge teacher at İskenderun’s Mithat Paşa Primary School has asked students about their preference between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, parents complain.

“Who likes FETÖ and who likes Recep Tayyip Erdoğan?” the teacher known by initials M.A. has asked 4th grade students, in the latest of growing divisive language flared up by the government in the recent past.

Evrensel daily quoted parents as saying that students aging between 9 to 10, become cold of religious culture courses and prefer not to attend in classes amid similar incidents.

The school primary Berivan Kuyubaşıoğlu confirmed the report saying: “Our teacher has overly gone into details. We have sent him a written warning.”

The teacher was also reported to have asked students if they support AK Party, CHP or HDP, during last week’s class.

The Education Ministry distributed “Attempt to invade Turkey with coup” brochures at all state schools across Turkey at the beginning of this education season. Some 19 million students also watched a video of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reciting the Turkish national anthem along with footage from the night of July 15, when an abortive coup took place in Turkey.

The government accuses Gülen of masterminding the coup attempt, calling him FETÖ [Fethullahist terrorist organization] leader. The latter denies any involvement calling on government to provide evidence.


Related News

Symposium concludes: Hizmet (Gulen) Movement Contributes to World Peace

Professors said that Hizmet is an anti-violence group that uses education and dialogue to achieve its goals. One of the highlights of the symposium was Dr. Martha Kirk’s presentation called Iraqi Women of Three Generations. There are 32 Hizmet schools in Iraq and she said these institutions teach Iraqi women self confidence.

Irvine’s new arrivals — Turkish asylum seekers, after a failed coup and a sadly successful purge

The man, who ran a nonprofit that provided humanitarian aid, doesn’t want to be identified because he fears for the safety of the wife and two children he was forced to leave in Turkey. They are hidden in a different city, he said, not far from his hometown. They’ve thrown away their cellphones and erased their social media accounts for fear of being tracked down by a government that no longer welcomes them.

Gülen donates Manhae award honorarium to Peace Projects

Well-respected Turkish intellectual and scholar Fethullah Gülen has decided to donate the honorarium that accompanies the Manhae Peace Prize he received to Peace Projects, a grant program launched by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV). Gülen was awarded the Manhae Peace Prize for his contributions to world peace at a ceremony held in South Korea […]

Erdoğan’s hate speech moves to US

The graffiti echoes Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s hate speech against the Hizmet movement inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, with which the cultural center is affiliated.

Erdoğan’s allegations proven to be incorrect, contradictory over time

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has over time turned out to be wrong or self-contradictory in his allegations over a number of issues in the past few years, which has cast doubts on his credibility as well as the credibility of his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government in the eyes of the people.

Fenerbahçe’s Yıldırım calls on fans to attend protest

“We consider the dissemination … of wiretaps of Fethullah Gülen Hocaefendi’s conversations an operation, and we condemn and refuse to accept these kinds of activities,” Yıldırım said. Gülen filed criminal complaints over the illegal wiretaps and against the media outlets and websites that published the distorted voice recordings in an attempt to defame the scholar.

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Turkey’s post-coup purge and persecution makes no exception for children

Erdoğan confesses anti-Gülen witch-hunt has gone off track

Pro-Erdogan journalist says killing Gülen followers, even their babies, a religious obligation

Kimse Yok Mu lends helping hand to 1,650 Somali families during Ramadan

Journalists and Writers Foundation at UN ECOSOC annual meeting

Being partners of the state

Pro-Erdoğan journalists call for assassination of Gülen followers abroad

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News