For over two weeks, since the Zaman daily unveiled the government's draft legislation to close privately owned prep schools, Turkey has been discussing this one issue. That is a big deal for a country where the agenda changes frequently with shocking political events and scandals that would typically make headlines for months in a “normal” country.
In the midst of an unprecedentedly extensive social media campaign urging the government not to intervene in private education, eccentric -- if not ridiculous -- things have happened. An anonymous Twitter account that is most likely run by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) organization even started a defamation campaign against people who are critical of the prime minister. Including me in their smear campaign with colorful visuals, they have called me an “American agent” for criticizing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's desire to join the Shangai Cooperation Organization.
Although the government's plan is a direct intervention in the freedom of enterprise protected even by the lousy 1982 Constitution that is a legacy of the military junta to Turkey, the debate is not limited to the issue of education. As I wrote in this column before, it has become clear that the prep school closure plan is only designed to root out the primary “social and human capital” of the Hizmet movement, inspired by the Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen who is in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania.
In the last two weeks, so much has changed in the government's statements on the issue. After an initial denial, they had to admit that the draft legislation exists. Then they defended the move arguing that their purpose is not to close the prep schools, but to “transform” them, although prep schools unanimously resisted the idea. At some point, in an effort to deny Zaman's accurate reporting, Minister of Education Nabi Avcı even said that a clause in the draft law was included in the text as a result of a copy and paste mistake. After the prime minister insisted on going forward with the deal, the minister put himself in an almost pathetic position while trying to defend this move that has no reasonable grounds, as far as education is concerned. I could not help but think that Avcı, who was a prestigious academic before becoming a politician, jeopardized his credibility just to follow the orders of the prime minister.
It was not only the Ministry of Education, but the prime minister, his advisors and sycophant columnists who owe their existence to praising Erdoğan in pro-government media outlets, who all of a sudden began to wage war against prep schools. The daily Sabah had a headline arguing that a young boy committed suicide after being unable to pay his prep school fees. Though the story turned out to be wrong, since the reason for the suicide was a love affair, the state of the media was pitiful. The daily Star argued that students who attend prep schools turn out to have “weaker family ties.” Nobody likes to spend free time taking complementary courses, but the competitive and dysfunctional education system in Turkey has made it an obligation. If there are this many negative consequences to prep schools, why has the pro-government media not published any reports on them before Erdoğan pushed for the closure?
It is truly mind-blowing that the prime minister of a not-insignificant country in a critical part of the world with pressing foreign policy and domestic issues has almost become obsessed with closing prep schools and even turned them into enemies. In the last two weeks, Erdoğan several times has expressed his resentment of prep schools “claiming the credit for the success of students” who have been educated in state schools. Erdoğan portrayed prep schools and schools as rivals, although they are not in the same category. Even students from the best private and public schools take supplementary tutoring from prep schools. If the education system was sufficient, the best students would not need to resort to such an option. As long as there is the competition of the centralized tests, there will be a need for extra tutoring. It was impossible not to detect almost a sense of envy in Erdoğan's criticism of the success of prep schools, especially the ones that are connected to the Hizmet movement. It is another manifestation of Erdoğan's reluctance to share any credit with anyone that does not operate under his own wings.
While the opponents of the ban make their case based on principles such as the protection of freedom of enterprise and right to education, since the government's plan openly suggests turning private institutions to public ones, the government's supporters then tried to move the debate to a political field, raising arguments such as “parallel education” and even “a parallel state” within the state. Based on such an argument, one can easily talk about a “parallel healthcare system” given a wide web of privately owned hospitals. Minister of Finance Mehmet Şimşek openly said that hiring prep school teachers to teach at public schools once they are “transformed” would create an extra burden on the economy and might result in additional taxes. I thought Turkey was on track for turning into a well-functioning , liberal economic system. What is the point of turning the state into an employer and levying taxes on citizens when those teachers are already employed in the private sector?
The list of reasons why the government's plan does not make sense could be extended, but it should be clear by now that the government's motivation is anything but education. When the daily Taraf published on Thursday a National Security Council document dated 2004 that suggested that state institutions act in coordination “to fight against the Gülen movement and end it” on the grounds that it poses a threat to the secular state, according to the military, many made a connection with Erdoğan's earlier remark that closing prep schools had been on the government's agenda since 2004.
Although the government denied the implementation of such a plan despite signing it in 2004, probably due to pressure from the military, several pro-government columnists have been writing on the purge in recent months of bureaucrats from important posts within the state due to their commitment to the Gülen movement. It is not that there is a “Gülen movement membership card” or any official tie to the movement. Many, however, are influenced by Gülen's teachings. Not just bureaucrats, but people from different walks of life, from doctors to athletes, from farmers to small shop owners, from industrialists to workers. Since this is a movement based on “voluntary support,” it is not possible to talk about an “organizational chart.” What is the evidence for this “parallel state” argument that is deliberately being created in the media? Can't people who like Gülen become bureaucrats, as long as they are qualified and obey the law?
Even if there had been no evidence of such a purge within the state or at other levels of society, the very attempt to close prep schools – given its irrational nature and all the evidence – seems then, at its core to be a manifestation of Erdoğan's desire to target the movement that his government cannot control, unlike some other groups in Turkey.
Let's hope that this prep school war will contribute to Turkey's long quest to turn into a democracy in which the government does not make arbitrary decisions.
Published on Today's Zaman, 29 November 2013, Friday
