One of his sons is with the PKK, the other is with the Gulen movement

Date posted: October 22, 2012

As PKK terrorist organization burns the schools in southeastern Turkey, the question “Where is the Government?” has arisen. A father’s school preference for his son, located in the city of Batman has started a debate.

The remarks of a father, who has a son with the PKK terrorist organization and another son in Gulen movement (aka Hizmet movement) affiliated schools, were thought provoking. PKK has recently targeted schools especially in the southeastern Turkey. The terrorists often throw molotov cocktails at the schools while students are in the building. PKK wants to increase the number schools controlled by KCK, a sister terrorist organization of PKK. Why doesn’t the government take any precaution? A ‘powerless government’ image spreads in the region. The citizens of this region prefer the alternative schools to protect their children from the PKK. One of those parents, whose name is anonymous for security reasons, sends his second son to a Gulen movement boarding school. Why did this father not want to send his son to a public school? Emre Uslu, a journalist of Taraf Newspaper explained ‘why’ in a live program on CNN TURK last night.

I don’t want to lose another son!

Emre Uslu said: “I talked with a father in the city of Batman who lost one of his sons to PKK and sent his second son to a boarding school affiliated with Gulen movement. I asked him why he sent his son to a Gulen affiliated school although he was not close to the movement. He told me that: “I lost one of my sons, I don’t want to lose the second one.” I asked him why he sent his son to Gulen affiliated school instead of a public one.

Pkk will find him in public schools

The father said: “If I send my child to a public school, PKK can find a network to reach my son in public school and will send him to the terrorist camps in the mountains. Even if I manage to protect my son in a public school here, they will find him at the college in Istanbul, Diyarbakir or Izmir and take him to the terrorist camps.

Gulen movement will protect my son

The father continued: “I believe that Gulen movement will protect my son from the terrorists. I am determined not to have another son snatched by PKK. The problem here is why the government cannot protect the school children from terrorism. This is the problem. The chief* is crying for this. This is something that should make everyone cry. If you do not shed tears for this, the Kurdish problem cannot be solved and we keep crying forever. State’s teacher in state school takes kids to mountains and makes them admire terrorists.

Source: Memleket, October 13, 1012

* Recently the police chief of Diyarbakir city told the press that he cried for the terrorists killed over the mountains because they, as the people representing the state, could not protect them while they were kids and they joined terrorist group.

Disclaimer: The original article is in Turkish. Slight deviations from the original meaning may have occurred due to difficulties in translating phrases and idioms. PII volunteers translated the article.