How much longer before Sharia is officially proclaimed? “Education body seeks to lift ‘Atatürk’s principles’ from curriculum,” from the Hürriyet Daily News, August 31 (thanks to Joshua):
Turkey’s Higher Education Body (YÖK) is considering the removal of classes that teach “Atatürk’s principles and the history of the revolution” from university curricula, TuÄŸba Tekerek of daily Taraf reported today.
The classes were added to the curriculum after the Sept. 12, 1980, coup with the enactment of the higher education law in 1981.
In other words, they were added in order to inculcate the principles of secularism that were being threatened by Islamic supremacists.
YÖK Chairman Gökhan Çetinsaya said the education body was discussing the removal of the classes as part of an amendment to the higher education law. “[The removal of the classes] is on the board’s agenda,” Çetinsaya told daily Taraf.
“Atatürk’s principles and the history of the revolution” is a mandatory course for university students in Turkey, along with “Turkish language and literature” classes. Lessons on “Atatürk’s principals [sic]” were based on the 1981 Higher Education Law, which stated the purpose of higher education as “training students who are devoted to ‘Atatürk nationalism’ as directed by Atatürk’s revolutions and principles.”
Professor Halil Berktay from Sabancı University told Taraf that the removal of the class would be a good thing as “there cannot be a lesson called ‘Atatürk’s principals [sic].” Not in primary school, middle school, or in university.”
OK, then!