Investigation against teachers over racist post in front of Kurdish road sign

Click to read the article in Turkish

A group of teachers working at the Karşıyaka Primary School in Erzurum's Karayazı in eastern Turkey posed for the camera in front of a road sign which reads "Welcome" in Turkish and Kurdish.

Standing in front of the sign "Hûn bî xer hatin-Hoş geldiniz", the teachers referred to the Kurdish part by saying, "It is written 'Welcome' in the other part of the sign as well, but our reaction to that is obvious'."

Then, they made rude gestures in front of the sign. Afterwards, they posted this picture containing racist hate speech on social media.

Investigation

The related social media post has caused an outrage on social media.

While the District Directorate of National Education has launched an administrative investigation against the teachers over the post, the prosecutor's office has also launched a legal investigation.

As reported by Bilal Çelik from daily BirGün, the teachers said in their depositions that their gestures had not targeted Kurdish. They said, "We wanted to emphasize that we would be appointed to another place soon and that we would not come back to Karayazı again."

Criminal complaint

The Linguistic and Cultural Rights Commission of the Mardin Bar Association has also defined the act as discrimination and hate crime and announced that they will file a criminal complaint against the teachers on charges of "inciting the public to enmity and hatred" and "hate crime". (RT/SD)