Investigation into claims that secondary school is used as ‘shrine’

THE government has launched an investigation into claims by a teachers’ union that a secondary school is being used as a “shrine”.

The allegation was made by Selma Eylem, head of the Cyprus Turkish Secondary School Teachers’ Union (Ktoeös), who said that people in “robes and turbans” were regularly seen at the Namık Kemal Lycée in Gazimağusa. She issued a written statement calling on the authorities to take action to stop “certain associations, foundations and religious orders” from spreading their beliefs in schools.

Ms Eylem said the apparent presence of clerics “among the students” at Namık Kemal, particularly on Thursday evenings, was “not educationally correct”.

“Do such people come to worship among the children? Is the school a shrine or an Islamic monastery? Or is it a mosque?” she asked. Prime Minister Tufan Erhürman responded to the claims last Friday — and to photographs taken in front of Namık Kemal and Girne’s Anafartalar high schools and shared on social media — saying he had received “relevant information” from the National Education and Culture Ministry. He said he had requested a report on the matter from the General Directorate of [Religious] Foundations and “security” oficials, which he would share with the public.

“The necessary actions will be taken if anything serious emerges,” he said.

National Education and Culture Minister Cemal Özyiğit said the photos on social media had been taken “in and around” the schools “not actually inside them”, but the claims had created “great public unease”.