Twenty-one teachers dismissed over 'terror ties' despite being acquitted

Photos: Umut Ali Adalı

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Twenty-one teachers who were detained in an investigation into the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) last November have been dismissed from the profession.

The decision is based on the temporary article 35 of Statutory Decree No. 375, which stipulates that "public employees who are considered to be in connection or in coherence with terrorist organizations should be expelled from public service by the approval of relevant ministers."

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After the schools of the teachers received the decision of expulsion, members and executives of the Confederation of Public Employees' Unions (KESK) wanted to make a statement for the press in Yenişehir, Diyarbakır. Police did not allow them.

Police intervention

KESK members protested the police intervention by chanting slogans as officers surrounded them in small groups to prevent them from coming together.

Police asked the union members to make the statement in front of the Eğitim-Sen teachers' union office instead of near the AZC Plaza building, where they gathered.

The KESK members chanted the slogans, "Barricades for gangs, not for laborers," "We don't stay silent, we are not afraid, we don't obey," "shoulder to shoulder against fascism," "Rights, law and justice will come with the resistance."

"Article 35 is null and void"

While KESK Co-Chair Şükran Kablan-Yeşil was giving a speech, police prevented journalists from filming her using their shields.

The teachers were dismissed despite being acquitted in the case, Kablan-Yeşil noted. "Article 35 is null and void for us. Our friends will be back," she said.

After the statement, KESK members marched towards the office of the Eğitim-Sen Branch No.2 while being surrounded by police.

Making a statement there, the union members said the defendants' attendance in union and democratic events as well as listening to Kurdish music, were included in the case file.

The teachers were dismissed in "a political and ideological decision" given by the Ministry of National Education, the Governor's Office of Diyarbakır and the Provincial Education Directorate in cooperation, the KESK stated.

Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Co-Chair Keskin Bayındır, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Provincial Co-Chair Zeyat Ceylan, Eğitim-Sen Secretary General İkram Atabay, and members of political parties and non-governmental groups also attended the gathering. (UAA/TP/VK)