High school students at an İstanbul vocational school objected to classroom activities marking Turkey’s July 15, 2016 coup attempt, calling them pro-government propaganda presented as democracy education, according to Sendika.org.
Schools were instructed to devote the first week of the new academic year to events titled “July 15 Democracy Victory and Martyrs’ Commemoration.”
At Boğazköy İMKB Technical and Vocational High School in İstanbul, students were reportedly asked to write a poem or letter about the coup attempt.
A group of students affiliated with Young Hopefuls objected, saying they did not want to take part.
“This is AKP propaganda — we don’t want to write this,” the students told the teacher, according to the report.
The teacher then left the classroom.
The Justice and Development Party, or AKP, is President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling party.
Critics say July 15 commemorations in schools have been used to promote the government’s official narrative of the coup attempt and Erdoğan’s political messaging under the language of democracy and national unity.
Ankara blames the coup attempt on the Gülen movement, a transnational civic initiative inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, and designates the movement as a terrorist organization. The movement denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
