See this site for a legal discussion by one of TUrkey’s most renowned Constitutional scholars of the Turkish Constitutional Court’s recently published justification for its decision on June 5, 2008 to cancel law #5735, which would have amended several articles of the Constitution and allowed female students to attend university while wearing headscarves….
(click here for […]
There’s never a failing grade in Turkey. You get to try again, and again. When I taught here in the 1980s, I was asked to change the flunking grade of a wealthy student who had never shown up for class and failed all his exams, but had his own private parking space on campus for […]
An education director in the Aegean city Izmir’s Konak district has approved a request from creationist Adnan Oktar’s foundation to hold a conference [in the schools] on “space and sciences.” The Milli Degerleri Koruma Vakfi (National Values Protection Foundation) was formed by controversial cult leader Oktar, known as “Adnan Hoca” to his followers. He has […]
The emphasis in Turkish schoolbooks (see my previous posts on education) and state propaganda urging a militaristic response to Turkey’s “enemies within” is bearing fruit. Turkish society is boiling with anti-Kurdish sentiment that extends beyond the Kurdish terror movement PKK to include any citizen of Kurdish descent. Following the recent deaths of Turkish soldiers at […]
Whitewashed History Textbooks Made “Safe For Democracy”
Records of two military coups in the Turkish Republic’s recent past have been removed from official history textbooks for year-eight students, according to the Education Ministry’s Board of Education and Discipline.
The sections on the military coup of Sept. 12, 1980, and the military intervention of Feb. 28, 1997, were […]
A complaint by Adnan Oktar (also called Harun Yahya) led to the banning of another internet site yesterday (September 24). This time, the 2nd Civil Court of First Instance of Gebze in Istanbul banned the internet site of the Union of Education and Scientific Workers, Egitim-Sen, egitimsen.org.tr. [The Nigde branch website is still available, […]
Adnan Oktar (aka Harun Yahya), the Turkish creationist cult leader, who sued to close down the world-renowned scientist Richard Dawkins’ website, has hatched another wild attention-seeking scheme. He has offered to pay 10 trillion Turkish lira to anyone “who produces a single intermediate-form fossil demonstrating evolution” – a sum […]
Mustafa Akyol’s take on the recent “anti-Crusader” incident in Kayseri (click for full article):
The most tragic-comic news story of this week came from the central Anatolian town of Kayseri. A film crew was shooting a documentary about the medieval past of the town, and they decided to use the city’s ancient castle as a stage. […]
Almost half [45%] of urban Turkish women believe economic independence for women is unnecessary, and younger generations seem to share this view more than the older generations, according to [a newly published poll by the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey, or KAGIDER]. Almost 50 percent of women between ages 15 and 19 believed a woman’s […]
From a Spiegel article about Adnan Oktar aka Harun Yahya, the creationist cult leader in Turkey whose libel lawsuit recently led to the blocking of the world renowned scientist Richard Dawkins’ website in Turkey (click for entire article):
“In 20 years,” [Yahya] says in serious tone, “humanity will enter a golden age.” Yahya says that he […]