In the middle of the school year in Turkey, several thousand teachers from the most renowned schools in the country began to be replaced. This has sparked new protests, in which more and more young people are joining. What does the government want?
The protests in Turkey are expanding – more and more young people are taking to the streets. High school students are also venting their anger – over the planned replacement of tens of thousands of teachers.
For days now, many Turkish students, instead of being in school, have been on the streets – protesting and holding sit-ins in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Antalya and other cities. The reason: the planned reassignment of up to 20,000 teachers from the country's most renowned schools, writes ARD.
Surprising changes
The German public-law media outlet notes that the news came as a complete surprise because it concerns the so-called project schools - these are high schools with a high level of education that also maintain cooperation with foreign countries. One of the protesting students, who requested anonymity, told ARD that the government's intention fills him with anger: "Teachers are being reassigned illegally, eight people were transferred from my school alone at once. This is certainly not something routine - there must be another reason."
A lawyer observing the student demonstration in Istanbul told ARD that she too studied at such a school. "Students believe that their teachers are being discriminated against because of their views," the woman said. The students rightly want to know the criteria used to replace their teachers and are demanding transparency.
Are they replacing the critical with the obedient?
According to media reports, the teachers who are considered critical of the government are to be replaced, especially those who have recently participated in demonstrations against the government following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu. It is believed that the teachers affected discussed this issue in class. And now their places will be taken by others who are loyal to Erdogan's government, ARD writes, based on information in Turkish publications.
This is not legal, says Kemal Irmal, a representative of the education union "Egitim Sen". "They are taking teachers away from their normal lives. This is the first such case in the history of Turkey. Without criteria and in the middle of the school year – this is something illegal“, he emphasizes.
The topic is increasingly being discussed, the German public-law media notes. Education Minister Yusuf Tekin said on television that the replacements are legal. “The regulation is from 2020. After four years of work in the so-called project schools, the contract is extended – or not“, Tekin explained.
“We will not give in“
These arguments do not sound convincing to the participants in the demonstration in Istanbul. The students' posters read: “We are not your project! Don't touch our teachers!“, as well as “We want harmony in education!“.
There are a lot of police at the demonstration, who are systematically filming the participants, ARD also writes. Many of them were masked. And they are very young - the high school students are between 14 and 18 years old.
A student, who requested anonymity, explains the teachers' changes with the mass protests in Turkey, which are mainly initiated by young people. “They cannot put the universities and students under their control, so they have turned to the high schools. But we, the students, will never give in to them“, she emphasizes.
At this point, students join the student demonstration. Their posters show images of Karl Marx and the Pokemon Pikachu, which has become a symbol of resistance. The largest protest movement in Turkey in over ten years has now spread to high schools, ARD commented.