Turkey's Erdogan:
Hopelessly Devoted to Devotion
by Burak Bekdil
For Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a pious Sunni Muslim man is, by definition, a more decent man than any other. Therefore, he reasons, a pious Sunni youth is better than any other youth.
In 2012, (then prime minister) Erdogan openly declared that his political ambition was "to raise devout generations." The opposition protested that it was not a government's mission to raise devout or non-devout generations; that in a secular country this choice belonged to parents, not to the government. In response, Erdogan said: "Should we, then, raise atheist generations?" He does not understand. He evidently will not.
At an inauguration ceremony in March 2015, Erdogan proudly said that the number of "imam school" students had risen from a mere 60,000 to 1 million. That is wonderful news for Erdogan, himself a graduate of an "imam school."
Erdogan does not hide his divisive and discriminatory thinking about Turkey's "two youths." In a recent public speech to supporters of his Justice and Development Party (AKP), including big groups of "pious youths," Erdogan labeled as "vandals" millions of young Turks, who in the summer of 2013 protested against his government in countrywide mass demonstrations. Then he addressed the "good" boys and girls: "It is you who, with your hard work, moral values, knowledge and energy, represent this country's future."
Education, Erdogan seems to calculate, is one of the most strategic tools to achieve his ambitions about raising "devout generations." It is for this reason that his government has the habit of resorting to every possible tactic to force children into piety and keep them away from whomever he considers a bad influence -- the "bad ones," whom he calls vandals.
Recently, two "vandal" schoolchildren, who wrote "Where is Berkin? on the blackboard, were sent to their school's disciplinary board for punishment. Berkin Elvan died in 2014 at the age of 15, after nine months in a coma, after a tear gas canister shot by the police hit his head at the time of the 2013 protests in Istanbul. He had gone out to buy a loaf of bread. Since his death, Erdogan has been insisting that the boy was a terrorist.
Turkey's compulsory religious education classes, which the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) last September declared violated the right to education, put pressure not only on non-pious Muslims, but on Muslim parents and non-Muslim Turks, too.But Erdogan's systematic classroom indoctrination, in favor of piety and against dissent, is more problematic than just two schoolchildren being sent to the disciplinary board.
by Burak Bekdil
For Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a pious Sunni Muslim man is, by definition, a more decent man than any other. Therefore, he reasons, a pious Sunni youth is better than any other youth.
In 2012, (then prime minister) Erdogan openly declared that his political ambition was "to raise devout generations." The opposition protested that it was not a government's mission to raise devout or non-devout generations; that in a secular country this choice belonged to parents, not to the government. In response, Erdogan said: "Should we, then, raise atheist generations?" He does not understand. He evidently will not.
At an inauguration ceremony in March 2015, Erdogan proudly said that the number of "imam school" students had risen from a mere 60,000 to 1 million. That is wonderful news for Erdogan, himself a graduate of an "imam school."
Erdogan does not hide his divisive and discriminatory thinking about Turkey's "two youths." In a recent public speech to supporters of his Justice and Development Party (AKP), including big groups of "pious youths," Erdogan labeled as "vandals" millions of young Turks, who in the summer of 2013 protested against his government in countrywide mass demonstrations. Then he addressed the "good" boys and girls: "It is you who, with your hard work, moral values, knowledge and energy, represent this country's future."
Education, Erdogan seems to calculate, is one of the most strategic tools to achieve his ambitions about raising "devout generations." It is for this reason that his government has the habit of resorting to every possible tactic to force children into piety and keep them away from whomever he considers a bad influence -- the "bad ones," whom he calls vandals.
Recently, two "vandal" schoolchildren, who wrote "Where is Berkin? on the blackboard, were sent to their school's disciplinary board for punishment. Berkin Elvan died in 2014 at the age of 15, after nine months in a coma, after a tear gas canister shot by the police hit his head at the time of the 2013 protests in Istanbul. He had gone out to buy a loaf of bread. Since his death, Erdogan has been insisting that the boy was a terrorist.
Turkey's compulsory religious education classes, which the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) last September declared violated the right to education, put pressure not only on non-pious Muslims, but on Muslim parents and non-Muslim Turks, too.But Erdogan's systematic classroom indoctrination, in favor of piety and against dissent, is more problematic than just two schoolchildren being sent to the disciplinary board.
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