Turkish Deputy PM rules out ‘ill will’ against Gülen community, unveils prep school draft details

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç has announced September 2015 as the deadline for the “transformation” of private examination prep schools (dershanes) into private schools. AA photo
Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç has announced September 2015 as the deadline for the “transformation” of private examination prep schools (dershanes) into private schools. AA photo


Date posted: December 2, 2013

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç has announced September 2015 as the deadline for the “transformation” of private examination prep schools (dershanes) into private schools, while denying that the move represents hostility toward the “Hizmet” (Service) movement of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

Speaking after a 7.5-hour-long Cabinet meeting on Dec. 2, Arınç also announced January 2014 as the date when the government would bring the draft prep schools legislation to Parliament, which will be occupied with the budget meetings until then.

Prep schools will then be given a time period of two years to transform their institutions into private schools, with the incentives provided by the government.

‘Transformation’ project

“We want to realize this transformation project. No one should perceive this as ill will against prep schools,” he said, claiming that some groups were seeking to incite a row between the government and the Gülen Movement.

Arınç denied that the government and the Hizmet movement were in confrontation, saying that such a confrontation would have “bad consequences” for Turkey.

He categorically refused to describe the move as the “abolition” of prep schools, instead describing it as a “transformation.”

“You can’t consider all private examination prep schools’ owners as part of the ‘Hizmet’ movement or community. The movement’s share among all prep schools is 22 percent,” he said.

“We don’t have the issue of the abolition of prep schools on the agenda. If this expression [abolition] was used mistakenly, it should be corrected,” the deputy prime minister added.

“Prep schools were founded due to free enterprise, to support students for examinations. The Constitution, the law, and the free market are all against forcing [an enterprise] to shut down,” Arınç said, adding that the government had decided that prep schools are “no longer needed.”

Energy deal between Turkey and the KRG

Meanwhile, Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of northern Iraq have come to terms for the sale of energy, Arınç confirmed, while adding that the agreement was still pending the approval of Baghdad.

He stressed that the agreement conformed with the Iraqi Constitution, and was not an international agreement but rather a commercial agreement covered by private law.

“We would not intend any conflict between the two parties [the KRG and the Baghdad central government],” he added.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News , December 2, 2013


Related News

Politically motivated police raid of kindergarten in west Turkey

The witch hunt against the opponents of the government continues and is growing. In another instance of a government-orchestrated operation targeting the faith-based Gülen movement, popularly known as the Hizmet movement, the police along with inspectors conducted raids around 6 am on Tuesday at dozens of institutions owned by the Yamanlar Educational Institutions, which was established by volunteers of the movement in the western province of İzmir.

Is Hizmet making a feint at Turkish Government?

Akif Beki Journalists and Writers Foundation gave a bulk response to the rumors regarding Hizmet-Government dispute. I did not sense an attempt of making a feint at the government in the text, if we don’t count a few unnecessary sentences. Thinking that folks may want to hear my comments on the topic, I was unable […]

Dismissed policeman detained while applying to post-coup rights commission

I.K., a former deputy police chief in Gaziantep’s Sehitkamil district who was dismissed in the government’s post-coup crackdown, was detained when he visited a local State of Emergency (OHAL) commission in Sivas to reclaim his rights.

“It was so cold, it felt like an arrow through my heart”

Τhis situation (Persecutions by the Turkish government) made us leave our homeland. Why would people throw their children in to the fire, throw their children into the water? I want people to think of the reason behind, why all this is happening.

Gulen`s Interview with the German Newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung

Gulen`s Interview with the German Newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. Interview with German Newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung ‘Charge of the Preacher’, dated 13th December 2014

Pak-Turk delegation visit Balochistan Chief Minister

Chief Minister of the province Balochistan, Pakistan, Abdul Malik Baloch received a delegation of Pak-Turk Schools’ and several other affiliated institutions’ officials at his residential office.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Gulen’s “Messenger of God: Muhammad” sold out at Buenos Aires book fair

Global Dignity Day marked in Turkey

Turkish volunteers in US rush to help Oklahoma tornado victims

Khamenei representative says will not set foot in paradise if Gülen is there

Another dismissed gov’t employee abducted in black van in Turkey’s capital: wife

Professor Wagner: With Gülen, the key is love

Hizmet’s political stance: Speak the truth to power, no matter what the cost is

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News