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Turkey Closes Teachers Union Egitim Sen
7.6.2005
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With
a membership of some 210,000 the teachers union
Egitim Sen is the the largest education workers
union in Turkey. The successor to two previous
banned teachers unions Egitim Sen has existed since
1995.
Since it’s foundation the union has had a clause in
its constitution defending the right of every
individual to be taught in their mother tongue and
to observe and nourish their own cultural
traditions. Ten months ago the Turkish state began a
case against Egitim Sen which at the end of May 2005
resulted in the forced closure of the union based on
the defence of language rights being an attack on
the indivisibility and and unitary nature of Turkey.
The union now faces the choice of renouncing its
commitment to mother tongue education or accepting
permanent closure.
The issue underlying the closure of Egitim Sen is
Turkey’s ceaseless struggle to both deny and destroy
Kurdish identity within Turkish borders. With a
Kurdish population of some 20 million most of whom
still speak Kurdish and who resolutely identify
themselves as Kurds Turkey’s attempts to crush
symbols of resistance has merely served to increase
Kurdish resolve.
The survival of the Kurdish language is largely due
to the low priority Turkey traditionally gave to the
provision of education. This meant that the
education of Kurdish children fell mostly to their
mothers who taught their children in Kurdish. As
education has become more widespread and accessible
so its utility as a means of social engineering has
increased with all education being strictly in
Turkish with the use of Kurdish by teachers being a
dismissible offence.
Officials of the Diyarbakir branch of Egitim Sen
believe that the attack on the union goes deeper
than the issue of language rights. Egitim Sen is an
example of a union which has successfully brought
together Kurds and Turks in a single representative
body against a state which remains hostile to
workers rights. Recent developments in Turkey have
seen an upsurge in chauvinist Turkish nationalism
which has encouraged anti-Kurdish sentiment. This is
illustrated by the Kemalists within the union who
are pressing for the union to drop the offending
clause, a condition for the lifting of the ban. A
further issue is the politicisation of management
within the education system. Egitim Sem has brought
some 3000 cases against the government for political
interference especially over the appointment of
governing party sympathisers to key managerial
positions.
At a time when Turkey is being groomed for EU
membership the state’s behaviour is highly
inappropriate and at odds with the values Europe
claims to espouse. Egitim Sem is already in the
process of appealing to Strasbourg and calls upon
fellow teachers, trade unionists, politicians and
concerned European citizens for support. The issues
must be taken up by all those concerned with basic
human rights and who believe that Turkey’s
membership of the EU should be accompanied by
genuine democratisation and respect for minority
rights.
* This press release is based on a meeting on 1 June
2005 between the Diyarbakir branch of Egitim Sem and
a visiting delegation from England. For information
contact: peace in Kurdistan Campaign on tel 020 7586
5892 or 020 7250 1315.
www.kurdishinfo.com
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