Posted on 09/16/2014 2:57:58 AM PDT by markomalley
Turkey's newly elected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, aided by his faithful new Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, begins his term of office with a major overhaul of the country's education system.
Although adopted a year ago, the reform plan, which has largely gone unnoticed, begins this year and extends Islamic religious education to all school grades. Only religious high schools (Imam Hatip Lisesi) offered such an education as part of their training programme for the country's Muslim clergy. At the same time, the reform extends compulsory schooling from Grade 8 to Grade 12.
Erdogan's new Turkey, which plans to celebrate the centenary of the secular Turkish Republic founded by Kemal Ataturk in 2023, is making Islamic religious education compulsory in both primary and secondary school, for 12 grades. Until recently, the latter was available only in religious high schools starting in Grade 9.
Another significant change is that religious school graduates can now apply to university faculties that train students for top public administration positions. Even Turkey's current president, who studied Business Administration and not political science, was kept out because he was graduate of a religious school.
It seems clear that the school system AKP leaders dream about and planned for is inspired by existing religious high schools.
The next step in the reform involves teaching Arabic, even as a second language, to enable students to understand the Qur'an, as Turkish lacks words that help understand the Holy Book.
However, Turkey's Armenian and Orthodox schools are not required to provide Islamic religious education to their students who number 2,000 and 250 respectively.
By contrast, those who do not want to attend public schools to avoid religious education will have to go to private schools, which are a privilege of the wealthy because of high tuition fees.
People have to get used to the idea that 52 per cent of Turks, plus another 10 per cent from the ultranationalist Turkish party, believe in Erdogan's Islam, this according to the newspaper Radikal.
Recently in Anatolia, a local school principal, whose tasks also includes assigning students to classes, required Jewish students to register for Islamic religious courses because of their Turkish-sounding names.
Historically in fact, many Jews (and members of other ethnic groups and religions) chose to Turkify and Islamise their names and surnames out of sheer need for survival in view of the rules established following the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923, based on the notion that Turkey was ethnically homogenous as a Turkish and Muslim nation.
Following an outcry from world Jewish leaders, Turkish authorities suspended the measure in the case of Turkish Jews.
However, many wonder about what will happen to the 200,000 Christian refugees from Syria who are at present in Turkey and their children who will soon start school in Turkey.
Who lost Turkey? Our first Muslim president...
Erdogan started to undo ataturk’s efforts as far back as 2007. Islamic fanaticism had to be constantly curbed in all directions under Ataturk. There are now so many different islamic grps in the ME & N. Africa that i believe we’ll not completely get rid of Islamic State (IS). There will be war soon though i hope not. This isn’t about terrorism anymore. It’ll be islam vs the rest war.
turkey has become a $h!thole. It had a chance to join the civilized world, and threw it away when it turned itself toward the medieval ideology of death and destruction.
Obama’s Hope and Change reaches Turkey
NATO can’t survive if Turkey remains a member..
What Turkey needs is a serious war with the Kurdish separatists and a crashing economy to shake Erdogan’s death grip on the culture.
It's never been about terrorism. It's ALWAYS been about islam vs the rest of the world. The problem is that President Bush and the kenyan now infesting the White House sold us a bill of goods that islam was peaceful, instead of telling us teh truth that islam is a satanic death cult intent on killing us all.
What we are seeing in the Muslim countries is a ‘Reformation” of Islam, back to its roots, as a religious counter to modernity.
The Muslim countries haven’t kept up with the rest of the world in developing modern societies. As a result, they have to react to maintain their pride—and the reaction is to take refuge in the 7th Century precepts of their religion.
My son met his Turkish bride attending Rutgers. Before the wedding we visited the family, very well to do, chauffeur, cook,etc. The parents built a duplicate 3 story home for other sister who had teenagers.
As my wife and I sat sipping tea, enjoying lovely views of the Black Sea, I unfortunately noticed a basketball backboard on the sister’s house. In the ‘sweet spot’ over the hoop was written ‘SLAMDUNK!’ And above a picture of the burning Twin Towers, with trademark antenna. Somebody please translate because my Turkisk daughter-in-law could not.
Ironically enough, the west pushed Turkey into Erdogan’s hands. The EU pushed Turkey to relax laws prohibiting Erdogan’s antisecularism.
Eu is suicidal.
Should have kicked them out in 1974 after they invaded Cyprus.
Doesn’t sound too good
And again when they wouldn’t would let US troops attack Saddam from the north. NATO is composed ( or supposed to be ) of democracies. Turkey ain’t one..
Most probably she would not instead of could not.
What many people in the West do not understand is what a Pew poll of large numbers of people in Muslim lands found:
Although the current percentage of Muslims that identify themselves as militant Jihadis is around 10% (150 million or so)at least another 20-25% (250-350 million)identify passively with the theology behind the active radicals.
These numbers are growing as more Muslims begin to lean toward the ‘pure’ form of Islam.
I just returned from Turkey... yes people voted for Erdogan...but like Obamas second term... no one liked the other candidates. They didn’t feel they had much of a choice, and most don’t really like federal interference.
Even though Erdogan is attempting to institute incremental changes... the legacy of Kemalist Turkey is very much alive. I was surprised and delighted to still see photos of Ataturk everywhere.
Sure there are more conservative cities like Konya( think sufi whirling dervishes) and many folk in the countryside are far less educated and more religious, probably applauded these changes.
This however is not similar to countries in the middle east... Turkey has to straddle a complicated fence, this is truly “muslim lite”. I have never seen anyone, be it in a private home or otherwise stop for prayer when the mosque calls. Even in villages where women still wear headscarves.. the mosque is a once a week ritual. Of course the nuts who consider themselves Islamists are less likely to hide now... but Turkeys commerce is so heavily reliant on tourism, not much is likely to change...hopefully.
Agreed. But as long as the west has political, trade & economic relations with islamic countries our leaders can’t be publicly truthful about islam. Actually this is a problem largely facilitated, if not created, by the west over the past decades at least.
And, we continue to be reactive to this problem in terms of our solutions. That makes the islamics always a step or two ahead of us.
Where does Gulen fit into this picture? Sitting in an armed camp in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains and controlling the largest number of Charter Schools in the US. Millions of U S tax dollars being funneled to Turkey via the Charters. FBI investigations lead nowhere.... None dare call it conspiracy??? When does a Charter school constitute a cell?
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