Alevi People to Boycott Religion Classes After New Decision

Alevi associations declared that they would hold a demonstration on February 8 to protest the compulsory religion classes starting from first grade as well as not send their children to school on the first week of the new semester in February 2015.

19th Educational Committee (Eğitim Şurası) under Education Ministry approved the compulsory religion classes starting from the first grade.

The proposition on the inclusion of Alevi faith in the curriculum has been rejected.

“Decisions not legitimate”

Alevi Bektaşi Federation Chairman Fevzi Gümüş claimed that the committee lost its legitimacy after taking a decision “by the influence of a union” - referring to the decision-making process.

“The ECHR ruling is obvious. What we demand is the removal of these classes. However, we come to the point where no steps are taken to improve the education but only reorient it from the secular model.

“What we demand is the restoration of a secular education system.

“There is no point behind the rejection of Alevi faith in the curriculum. The point is to remove compulsory religion classes. In order to realize this, we will use our democratic rights in all fields.

“We will have a meeting in Istanbul and we are waiting for 1 million participants.” (YY/BM)

* Click here to read the article in Turkish.