Date posted: December 27, 2013

İSTANBUL
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called on his supporters to boycott prep school, which help students studying university and high school admission exams.

Speaking to crowd gathered at İstanbul Atatürk Airport to welcome him, Erdoğan said the corruption investigation is continuation of a recent row over government proposal to close the prep schools.

A controversial proposal that seeks to shut down prep schools, or test study centers that assist students in preparing for high school and university examinations, sparked public outrage and led to deep division among the public in the face of lack of a broader policy framework to address the structural woes in the education system.

One of the opponents of the government proposal is faith-based Hizmet Movement led by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, which cited that without abolition of the central university exam, the move will cause serious troubles.

Calling on his supporters to boycott prep schools, Erdoğan took another swipe at the Hizmet movement, which, according to him, pulled the trigger of the recent corruption operation.

However, lawyer of Fethullah Gülen denied any involvement in the recent graft probe, strongly rejected any link to the case.

Three ministers resigned from Cabinet while four deputes parted ways with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) since last week.

Source: Today's Zaman , December 27, 2013

Tags: Defamation of Hizmet | Education | Hizmet (Gulen) movement | Turkey |