More than three thousand Turkish teachers at home after the coup
An estimated 3.500 of the Turkish teachers and researchers who were fired after the coup attempt are still at home. So says Education International, a worldwide association of teachers' unions.
On July 15, 2016, a military coup was thwarted in the Turkish capital Ankara. 265 people are said to have died. President Erdogan detained alleged opponents of his regime. Thousands of journalists, teachers and researchers were fired.
Solidarity
At the moment there are still more than XNUMX teachers and researchers unemployed at home, says Nicolás Richards of Education International (EI).
We stand in solidarity with these teachers and try to put pressure on the Turkish government to reinstate them.
That is why a XNUMX-person EI delegation went to Turkey at the end of February.
The delegation, which consisted of representatives from the EU, teacher unions, Unicef and European diplomats, visited the Turkish education union Egitim Sem, to which approximately 1.500 of the total of 3.500 dismissed teachers are affiliated. EI wants to contribute to their rehabilitation through donations and legal aid to the union.
The group was also keen to speak to the Turkish Ministers of Education and Labor. “To our disappointment, they ignored us completely and refused to receive us,” said Richards.
Worried
He is concerned not only about the dismissal of teachers, but also about government influence on higher education institutions. "There are universities where faculties are closed because all lecturers have been fired." It is not known which faculties these are.
Due to the tough Turkish stance, it is difficult and unsafe to conduct extensive research in the country itself.
That is why, according to Richards, the diplomatic route is the most effective. “We don't want to endanger our colleagues by attacking Turkey hard. We prefer to talk to the Turkish embassies to bring about change. ”
Limited
Amnesty International is also trying to find out what exactly is happening in Turkey, says spokesman Ruud Bosgraaf. “The options for conducting research and interviewing people are limited. At the moment, the Council of Europe is the only organization that really has anything to crumble. ”
President Erdogan announced at the beginning of this week that he will sue the Netherlands at the European Court of Human Rights, the court for the 47 member states of the Council of Europe. Turkey is one of them.
Amnesty acknowledges that there is currently little it can do for the affected teachers. “It may sound strange, but it is easier to identify who is wrongfully in prison and to do something about it via the judge. It's a lot more complicated for people who lose their jobs. ”
