Despite strong public opposition, the government repeated on Monday its insistence on transforming prep schools, known as dershanes, into private schools after a Cabinet meeting.
The Turkish Cabinet met to discuss a draft law to close the country's prep schools, steps to implement the democratization package Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced at the end of September and the energy deal Turkey recently signed with the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in a meeting which has lasted around eight hours.
After the meeting Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç told reporters that the government remains committed to its plan to introduce a broader change to deal with the woes and inadequacies present within the education system. Arınç laid out a timeframe for the government plan, and said dershanes are expected to complete the transformation by September 2015, in time for the beginning of the school year two years from now. Instead of direct closure, Arınç once again underlined that the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government aims to transform dershanes into private schools, an argument far from convincing given the fact that owners and educators view the transformation of prep schools as a dim prospect.
Nov. 30, Saturday
Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen described himself as “speechless” and expressed his disappointment with a National Security Council (MGK) decision in 2004 signed by the government recommending an action plan against the Hizmet movement. Gülen stated that if the government had not undertaken steps to close the prep schools (dershanes), a move strongly decried by the Hizmet movement, he would have given the government the “benefit of the doubt” and considered the document something “circumstantial.”
The Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) Kütahya deputy, İdris Bal, who was referred to the party's disciplinary board for expulsion because he opposed the government's planned closure of prep schools, announced on Saturday that he has resigned from the party. A statement released by the AK Party last week said that Bal was referred to the disciplinary board on the grounds of "giving speeches that conflict with party politics," implying that the move may have been due to tweets Bal posted in mid-November.
Analyzing the government's planned closure of prep schools on a television program on Friday night, Zaman daily Editor-in-Chief and Media Group CEO Ekrem Dumanlı stated that everything the government has denied about the contents of the bill to close prep schools was later proved to be true.
Dec. 1, Sunday
A survey shows that the Turkish public is overwhelmingly opposed to the government interfering in private lives, with a significant number of people saying the government has actually been meddling in the private sphere. The survey by the MetroPOLL Strategic and Social Research Center on the perception of Turkish people on the interference into private lives found that 73.1 percent of respondents said the government should not intrude into the private lives of citizens. Only 20.3 percent said the government can interfere, while the rest did not respond or said they have not formed an opinion on that subject.
Republican People's Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Umut Oran has submitted a parliamentary question on whether prep schools and companies, including media outlets affiliated with the Hizmet movement, will be the next target of audits, after the government investigated Turkish Petroleum Refineries Corporation (TÜPRAŞ) and Boydak Holding. Oran noted that it is unacceptable to use Ministry of Finance auditors and its related commissions as tools to put businessmen under pressure or to punish entrepreneurs who have opposing views to the government.
Dec. 2, Monday
Turkey's Interior Minister Muammer Güler took the debate on mixed-gender student housing to a new level when he said that apartments put up for daily rental will have to register with the police and obtain a license. “Regarding student houses, apartments and hostels, we received various complaints, and we have evaluated all of them,” he said.
Dec. 3, Tuesday
A group of people staged a protest outside an İstanbul court on Tuesday demanding justice for the 2007 killing of Hrant Dink, the late editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos. The protest took place outside the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan while the court was holding a hearing for the Dink trial on Tuesday afternoon. The group, led by Turkish-Armenian actor and director Sermiyan Midyat, carried placards that read, “For justice, for Hrant” and “Murderous state will give an account.”
Dec. 4, Wednesday
The European Parliament (EP) is gearing up to tell Ankara that an independent press is vital for democracy amid growing concerns in the EU for the widespread occurrence of self-censorship by media owners and journalists in Turkey. The European Parliament draft report, seen by Today's Zaman, underlines that the freedom of expression and media pluralism are at the heart of European values and reiterates concern for the fact that most media outlets are owned by and concentrated in large conglomerates with a wide range of business interests.
Dec. 5, Thursday
Turkish coffee and its tradition was included in the intangible cultural heritage list of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Dec. 6, Friday
The İstanbul Public Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation into a news report by investigative journalist Arzu Yıldız, who was formerly working with the Türkiye and Taraf dailies. The Türkiye daily reported in September that two female cofounders and current members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) gathered intelligence for Iran by planting bugging devices in the office of the Prime Ministry's Overseas Turks Agency (YTB).
The Foreign Ministry expressed deep sorrow over the death of South African anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela, who died at the age of 95 in his Johannesburg home on Thursday after a prolonged lung infection, conveying its condolences to South Africa.
Excerpted from the news piece published on Today's Zaman, 08 December 2013, Sunday
