Twitter users protest plan to close prep schools in Turkey
#DershaneyleGelenADALET
Date posted: November 18, 2013
Government proposal would close thousands of private ‘dershanes’, seen by many as filling a gap in state education system.
Turkish Twitter users are in an uproar over a report that the government has drafted a law which would close thousands of private preparatory education centres (known as “dershanes”) across the country. Turkish newspaper Zaman claims the draft law would also impose fines on those that do not abide.
Minister of Education Nabi Avci, responding to the report, denied that the final version of the draft law had been completed.
The dershanes provide students with supplementary education in order to prepare them for university entrance exams. The schools are reportedly a point of tension between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government and the Islamic movement [Hizmet] that runs many of the schools.
Sevgi Akarcesme, columnist at Today’s Zaman, writes:
Turkish ruling party’s targeting of the Gülen movement constitutes a crime against humanity
Members of the Gülen movement, also known as the Hizmet movement, have systematically and for many years now, had secret files kept on them. They have also been followed, fired from their jobs and made the targets of extreme insults and curse words.
Statement on Journalists Arrests
The raids on Turkey’s top selling newspaper Zaman and prominent TV organization STV are profoundly disturbing to all of us who value democracy, tolerance and the role of a free press in safeguarding both. Journalists who report about the suppression of human rights are not enemies of the state; rather they are documenting the actions of those who undermine the safeguards of a democratic Turkey.
Turkish coup was Erdogan ‘gift’
Erdogan became quite successful in his two very basic goals right after the coup. First and foremost, for putting all the blame squarely on the Hizmet movement, led by Gulen, and then carrying on a huge cover-up to hide other segments of the coup plotters. The problem is, while he has been quite successful in Turkey – he was not able to convince many in Europe and in the US.
The Hizmet movement and participatory democracy
The Hizmet movement’s objections make an important contribution to the formation of participatory democracy in Turkey. So far, Turkish democracy was a game among political parties in the absence of a strong civil society and market actors.
Henri Barkey: Why Is Turkey Accusing Me of Plotting a Coup?
Soon after the coup was defeated, my colleagues and I became the targets of sensationalist conspiracy theories promulgated by Turkey’s pro-government press. The accusations ranged from organizing the coup on behalf of the C.I.A. to setting up communication links for the plotters and, most implausibly, bringing a convicted murderer from California into Turkey to engage in evil deeds.
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KÜBRA ENGİN, İSTANBUL A group of Tanzanian students won the final round in the 11th International Turkish Olympiad folk dance competition held at the İstanbul Sinan Erdem Sports Complex on Thursday night. Thousands of spectators were thrilled by the performances of foreign students in the folk dance finals as part of the Olympiad, a competition […]
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