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Turkish Education Law Sparks Controversy
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Saglamer
vowed to stand up to the measure
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By
Sa'ad Abdul Majid, IOL Correspondent
ISTANBUL,
May 8 (IslamOnline.net) – The new draft higher education law tabled
by the governing Justice and Development Party (AK) has sparked a
heated debate in Turkey with the opposing camp, chiefly the powerful
military, arguing it gives Islam a key role in the education system.
The
measure was adopted Thursday, May 6, by the parliament’s education
committee, which rejected calls for withdrawing or amending the text.
The
draft legislation consists of 11 articles, including one that curtails
the influence of the military on the supreme council of higher
education.
Under
the article, an army general will no longer be allowed to attend the
council’s sessions.
The
bill also provides for cutting down the number of council members from
20 to 12.
It
puts high school graduates on an equal footing, particularly the
alumni of religious schools.
The
head of the parliament’s education committee, Tayar Kulatac, said
the bill will give back the students their "usurped rights".
"The
existing law deprives a majority of [religious schools] students of
their rights to join faculties, like medicine, pharmacy, engineering,
mass communications and political science," he told the Turkish
television.
The
draft law has received the thumps-up of the opposition Right Path
(DYP), which has four seats in the 550-seat parliament.
Opponents
However,
it saw fierce opposition from the powerful army, which argued it runs
counter to the country’s stringent secular system.
The
military establishment called on the parliament, in a statement
released Thursday, to tread carefully on such a sensitive issue.
It
also hit out at the government’s education policy, saying it
breaches the law "letter and spirit".
The
left-wing Turkish Republican Party (CTP), which is also against the
law, had threatened to take the issue to the
Constitutional Court
if the draft was approved by the parliament.
It
claimed that the measure was used as a "cover-up" to
strengthen the position of the religious schools in the country.
Politically
Motivated
The
bill also drew fire from different university presidents, who feared
it would weaken the current education system.
Erdogan
Tisitc, the head of the higher education authority, claimed that the
bill is "politically motivated".
He
said it paves the way for religious schools to have a foothold in the
secularly oriented universities and undermines the role of the
authority.
Speaking
for the authority’s members, Tisitc said they will bring the issue
before the
Constitutional Court
if the bill was passed by the parliament.
President
of Istanbul Teknik University Gulsun Saglamer told NTV network that
the draft was aimed at shaking up one of the most important
authorities in the country, vowing to stand up to it.
The
president of
Istanbul
University
, Kamal Oglu, who urged the army last year to intervene and block the
draft, urged the government to withdraw it because it "threatens
the existence of the higher education authority".
The
bill should be first approved by the parliament and then the president
of the republic to be published in the official gazette and enter into
force.
The
president, however, can reject the measure, but if the government
presses on with it despite his opposition, he could then take the
issue to the
Constitutional Court
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