Police use pepper spray on teachers protesting for better wages, detain seven

Photos: Private Sector Teachers' Union

In protest of low wages and poor working conditions, private school teachers gathered in the capital city of Ankara yesterday (August 30).

The demonstration was organized by the Private Sector Teachers' Union, which has nearly 4,000 members in 60 provinces of the country, according to its secretary-general, Hüseyin Aksoy.

"The ministry is unaware of how many teachers work at private institutions. It is unaware that a teacher at a private course attends 60 hours of classes," he was quoted as saying by Gazete Duvar.

Teachers of private schools and courses in Türkiye have long complained about lower wages and higher working time compared to public school teachers.

After gathering in front of the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB/UCTEA) Educational and Cultural Center in the government quarter Kızılay, the teachers attempted to march to the Ministry of National Education.

Police response and criticism

Police surrounded and blocked them, and used pepper spray on the teachers when they insisted on marching. Seven people, including two lawyers, were detained during the incidents.

"We, the teachers who came from hundreds of kilometers away and were subjected to gas and beating, don't want a country like this," the union said in a statement on Twitter.

"Our only purpose was to read out our statement in a peaceful way and then disperse, but they choose to attack the teachers," it wrote.

Video showing the detention of a teacher:

Bir üyemizin gözaltına alınışı. Yorumu size bırakıyoruz. pic.twitter.com/ETDdhyJ2YI

— Özel Sektör Öğretmenleri Sendikası (@ogretmensendika) August 30, 2022

MP Alpay Antmen of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) also criticized the police's treatment of the teachers on Twitter.

"If they were drug smugglers, they would be offered coffee at the Ministry of Interior," he wrote. "Teachers working in the private sector live under the starvation line. They came to Ankara to make themselves understood, but the AKP government attacked them."

Barikatlara karşı direnmeye devam ediyoruz. İçerisinde avukat ve öğretmen arkadaşlarımızın olduğu 6 kişi gözaltına alındı.
Gözaltılar serbest bırakılana kadar susmuyoruz,korkmuyoruz! pic.twitter.com/Ua6emQYdN2

— Özel Sektör Öğretmenleri Sendikası (@ogretmensendika) August 30, 2022

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