Barefoot May 19 Ceremonies

Ihsan Babaoglu, head of the Diyarbakir branch of the Union of Education and Science Workers, (Egitim-Sen), criticized the fact that students performed barefoot at the May 19 ceremonies at the Ataturk Stadium.

The annual youth day is celebrated in the memory of Turkey's founder Kemal Ataturk's launching of the national liberation struggle on 19 May 1919 when he deserted the Ottoman army and landed on Samsun port on Black sea cost.

"Teachers are not malicious but the fear of not being approved by the protocol overrides everything," said Babaoglu.

Babaoglu, who spoke to bianet, said the students' shoes became muddy during rehearsals and the teachers told those who would perform acrobatics to take their shoes off.

Babaoglu said that the teachers were jeopardizing the students' health just to be appreciated in ceremonies organized with a military mentality.

He added the teachers might have acted this way because of fear of being sent to other schools. They would evaluate the issue with the teachers, said Babaoglu.

"They took their shoes off so that their outfits do not get dirty"

According to the daily Evrensel, the teachers told students to take their shoes off when they saw that the shoes were all different colors. Students told reporters that they had taken their shoes off because of the ugly appearance.

Officials from the National Education Directorship said students took their shoes off so that they do not get their clothes muddy.

Governor Nusret Miroglu, Lieutenant General Necdet Ozel, Commander of 7th Army Corps., Lieutenant General Bilgin Balanli, Commander of 2nd Air Forces, and Mayor Osman Baydemir watched the ceremony from the protocol. (OG/BB/EA/YE)