Turkey bans math textbooks due to questions including Gülen’s initials


Date posted: October 9, 2016

Turkey’s paranoia over the Gülen movement has reached new heights with the government banning mathematics textbooks due to questions involving the initials of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

“A textbook was banned just because it features Gülen’s initials in a practice question that reads: ‘… from point F to point G …’. It has become a paranoia. Public money is being squandered,” main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Osman Budak told the Sözcü daily.

Textbooks that the government has destroyed over their allegedly harmful content weigh 13,000 tons and cost TL 50 million ($16 million), Budak said.

The allegedly harmful content is not limited to that related to the Gülen movement as an English-language textbook was also banned because Kemalist actor Müjdat Gezen was mentioned in the book, Budak added.

Since the Turkish government pinned the blame for a July 15 coup attempt on the movement, police have been presenting seized copies of books written by Gülen as evidence of terrorism.

In September Turkey’s Education Ministry said it would republish 58 state-distributed textbooks in order to eliminate any subliminal messages from what the government calls the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).

The same month Turkey’s Sivas University pulled off the shelf of its libraries all copies of books written by Gülen and his alleged supporters and destroyed them with a shredder.

Also, license plates including the letters “FG” have already been removed from vehicles belonging to the Denizli Courthouse. (Turkey Purge)

Source: Turkish Minute , October 6, 2016


Related News

Fethullah Gulen and Gulen Movement Has No Political Agenda, Says Expert

Leading academics from various countries discussed the role of movements in the Muslim world and the experiences of the Gulen Movement at Arab League headquarters in Cairo. The conference, jointly held by Cairo University’s economic and political science faculty, Academic Studies and the Internet Foundation from Turkey, and Hira magazine.

‘My 5-month old son is slowly going blind in prison,’ says jailed mother

Betül Selçuk, a physics teacher who has been held in pretrial detention for almost 11 months over alleged links to the Gülen movement, has told her lawyer that her 5-month-old son, Mehmet Selim, is slowly going blind in prison due to overheating and unhygienic conditions.

Islamist daily published profiling story in 2010

The Islamist Akit daily published a story on illegal profiling conducted by the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) that targeted religious groups back in 2010, long before the Taraf daily, which is currently under fire from the government for publishing similar documents, the authenticity of which have been confirmed by the government.

Erdoğan’s former speechwriter: Call for Gülen’s return was tactical move

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s former speechwriter and current Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy Aydın Ünal wrote on Thursday that Erdoğan has never liked Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen and that his call for Gülen to return to Turkey in 2012 was a political maneuver.

Hizmet in Context: Societal Islam Versus Political Islam

The Hizmet movement is according to Ebaugh (2010) a civic movement rooted in Islam that is independent from the state. Others see it simply as a faith- based movement (Esposito and Yilmaz 2010). Agai (2004) describes it as an education network and Hendrick (2009) as a global pressure group to promote Turkish interests.

Turkish nationals in Bangladesh living in fear

In a recent press conference, Ambassador Devrim Öztürk claimed that some Turkish nationals in Dhaka, in particular those working at the Turkish Hope School, were involved with what he called the Gülenist Terror Organisation (FETÖ). Foreign Ministry officials who spoke to the Dhaka Tribune said they saw the ambassador’s request as a violation of diplomatic norms.

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

McGill University Prof: Turkish President Erdogan Wrong To Blame Man Of Prayer For Coup

South Korean NGO: It’s hard to make sense of what is being done to Kimse Yok Mu

Turkey’s Plans to Abolish Private Tutoring Centers Arrests Free Enterprise and Democracy

Erdoğan’s parallel bicycle gets rotten

THY’s Topçu defends embargo on papers, defamation campaign

TV station won’t cover AK Party events due to harassment of reporter

Palauan President: We would like to participate in Turkish Language Olympics

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News