Turkish teachers entangled in post-coup crackdown
IStanBUL: It was a notice received by tens of thousands of professionals in the aftermath of Turkey’s failed coup, and one that profoundly shocked Uygar Ozdemir.
The 36-year-old high school sports teacher had been suspended from his job in an Istanbul school, accused of providing financial support for a terrorist organisation and promoting the organisation on social media.
Ozdemir returned to Istanbul from vacation and began trying to unravel how he got caught up in one of the biggest dragnets in modern Turkish history, one designed to root out followers of a reclusive Islamic cleric who the government says was behind the July 15 coup attempt that left more than 270 people dead.
“In the beginning I was very surprised. I thought, ‘ How can it be possible?’ I couldn’t believe that I was associated with an organisation, religious or terrorist, which I never had a link to in my life,” said a shaken Ozdemir, noting he had never even been to a mosque as an adult, much less followed a secretive religious cleric. He wasn’t alone.
Hundreds of kilometres to the south in Turkey’s coastal town of Izmir, 37-year-old high school counsellor Seyda Kara was among those receiving a similar notice.
More than 20,000 teachers have been suspended from public schools, while thousands of private school teachers have lost their jobs.
Both Kara and Ozdemir insist they have nothing to do with cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States and whose movement runs charities, schools and businesses worldwide. Turkey has designated Gulen’s movement a terrorist organisation.
Turkey’s failed coup by rebel military officers was swift and forceful.
In the space of a few hours, fighter jets overflew Ankara and Istanbul, rattling windows with sonic booms while helicopters strafed buildings and tanks rolled down city streets. It was ultimately defeated by people heeding a call from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to take to the streets in defiance.
The government’s ensuing crackdown was no less swift. A state of emergency was declared.
More than 40,000 people have been detained and nearly 85,000 suspended or dismissed from a broad range of public sector jobs, from schoolteachers and doctors to airline staff, diplomats, judges, journalists and artists. More than 4,200 institutions have been closed or seized, including schools.
Erdogan says the purges are essential to rid the Turkish state of Gulen’s followers. Gulen himself has condemned the coup and denies any involvement.
The government has vowed to continue the crackdown.
Some say that the government’s response is understandable to a degree. There is a “broad consensus” in Turkey that Gulen followers played an important role in the coup attempt, said Fadi Hakura, associate fellow in the Londonbased Chatham House think tank.
The movement’s primary activity in Turkey was in education, so the government was “right to conclude that at least a sizeable segment of the Turkish education system was infiltrated,” he said.
“The Turkish government has some legitimacy to pursue Gulenist supporters within the state administration in general and the education field in particular,” Hakura said.
“However, the government needs to be very, very careful that this cleansing operation, as it calls it, does not encompass ... many innocent individuals who are completely unconnected to the Gulen movement and whose reputations and professional careers have been severely damaged by the government’s post-coup crackdown.”
Ozdemir and Kara insist that is exactly what happened to them.
Turkey’s wide-ranging crackdown has spurred several European allies and rights organisations to urge restraint.
Hakura said many were concerned that “the Turkish state’s ability to provide adequate education services will be diminished for generations to come.”
For Kara and Ozdemir, the consequences have been devastating.
Although they haven’t been fired, they face investigations to determine whether they will be reinstated or sacked. Under the state of emergency, those dismissed can’t appeal, and can never work in the public sector again.
Kara knows of no reason for being on the purge list, beyond possibly as a case of mistaken identity.
The only explanation Ozdemir can contemplate was his use of a bank connected to the Gulen movement, an account he opened for convenience, he said, because a branch near his home offered interest-free banking. Other suspended teachers use the same bank, one which, he noted, officially sponsored Turkey’s soccer federation until recently. The bank has been shut down since the coup attempt.
Being appointed to a state school was a long-term dream and it took Ozdemir a decade to get there.
His colleagues have started a petition for his reinstatement and former and current students are conducting a social media campaign. But the process is lengthy. His teachers’ union has appealed to the education ministry on behalf of more than 130 members but was told no deadline for a decision could be given because so many cases were pending.
For Ozdemir, the uncertainty is devastating.
“It created the feeling in me that I will lose everything in my life,” he said. — AP
It created the feeling in me that I will lose everything in my life. uygar Ozdemir