The Daily Telegraph

Turkey to end the teaching of evolution theory in lower school

- By Raf Sanchez MIDDLE EAST CORRESPOND­ENT

TURKISH children will no longer be taught about evolution at school, a government official has said, in another sign of increased conservati­sm under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Alpaslan Durmus, the head of curriculum for the ministry of education, said that Charles Darwin’s theory was “controvers­ial” and would be removed from lower school programmes by 2019.

“We have excluded controvers­ial subjects for students at an age unable yet to understand the issues’ scientific background,” Mr Durmus said.

The proposal to strip evolution from the curriculum was included in a draft proposal that has already been approved by Mr Erdogan, Mr Durmus said. The final curriculum will be released next week.

Critics argue the move is part of a creeping strain of Islamism that is spreading through Turkey’s once proudly secular state. A group of Turkish academics criticised the move saying it put Turkey in the same category as Saudi Arabia.

“The subjects of science and technology classes in elementary schools should be presented with a perspectiv­e that allows students to connect it to subjects they will encounter in future

‘We have excluded controvers­ial subjects for students at an age unable yet to understand the issues’

years. It should provide them with an evolutiona­ry point of view,” the academics said in a statement.

The Koran, like the Bible, teaches that Adam and Eve were the first humans. God is said to have created Adam from Clay and then formed Eve, also known as Hawwa, from Adam.

Evolution is not widely accepted among religious Muslims in Turkey, although some liberal Islamic scholars have suggested Darwin’s theory is not incompatib­le with Islamic teachings.

Creationis­m, the belief that God made the world, is already taught in Turkish textbooks alongside evolution.

Suppressio­n of Darwin’s theory is not new in Turkey. In 2011, a government body introduced an internet filter designed to prevent children seeing online pornograph­y, but it also blocked sites related to evolution.

Two years later, a popular science magazine funded by the state’s technology council tried to run a cover story commemorat­ing the 200th anniversar­y of Darwin’s birth. The council ordered the story to be pulled and the magazine’s editor claimed she was sacked shortly afterwards.

Adnan Oktar, a prominent Turkish creationis­t, has led a crusade against the teaching of evolution, saying the theory is a European invention developed as a slight against Islam.

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