A graduation ceremony at Gebze Alayetin Kurt Anatolian High School in Kocaeli sparked controversy when female students were excluded from the ceremony because of their attire.
Prior to the ceremony, the school’s “Graduation Committee” sent a “Parental Permission Approval Form” to parents, which stated that students should dress in accordance with “the basic restrictions of national moral values and dress code.” However, it is unclear whether parents will approve the form.
An inspector was appointed
Some female students who came with their parents to the ceremony were reportedly not allowed to enter the ceremony because they were dressed in a manner that violated regulations. After an argument between the parents and the school administration, the gendarmerie was dispatched to the school. In response to the tension, Gebze District National Education Director Şener Doğan came to the school and all students were admitted. The Kocaeli governor announced that he had assigned inspectors to the case.
“It has nothing to do with the students’ clothing.”
A senior official at the regional Directorate of National Education contacted by Cumhuriyet, who declined to be named, said the incident had nothing to do with the students’ clothing.
The source said, “The incident that occurred at the graduation ceremony was a communication error and had nothing to do with the students’ clothing. A dispute arose because a student from outside the school wanted to participate in the ceremony. After that, with the arrival of the head of the local education bureau, all students were able to graduate safely.”
“They aim to create an anti-secular public.”
In a statement to Cumhuriyet, Savas Karabulut, chairman of the Aytiim Sen Kocaeli Second Branch, said the regulations prepared for the graduation ceremony were part of the government’s project to raise a spiteful generation.
“The statement of national values in this regulation determines the conditions for students’ dress code,” Karabulut said. “We believe that no school principal should enforce this bylaw. We see this as a government move aimed at creating an anti-secular and anti-democratic public in society,” he said.
“On the way to Sharia…”
A written statement on this issue was also received from Eytim Sen Kocaeli Branch 2. The statement included the following: “This consists of an attempt by the AKP government and its minister TEKİN to set parents, students and school administrators against each other in a ‘two steps forward, one step back’ move to build a field of legitimacy for themselves.” The AKP government’s attitude of suspending this freedom of the ministry while school administrators were organizing graduation ceremonies created a field of legitimacy by providing a basis for the dress issue for the masses of its own country, and tried to do so. Using the “turban issue” as a social sword to divide and dominate the working class is not new. “Freedom is decided not by the government, but by the working and free people, but by whom it is prohibited.”
