Laicism Assembly Slams Education Minister for War of Independence Remarks

Turkey's Laicism Assembly has strongly condemned Education Minister Yusuf Tekin for his recent statements that appeared to question the significance of the Turkish War of Independence. Tekin's remarks, suggesting a questioning of what was being liberated from, implied a different historical narrative than the one celebrating the nation's victory over imperialism and the establishment of a secular republic.

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This approach is not an ordinary terminological choice; it is an admission by authorized figures of the political power of a systematic counter-revolutionary attack against the founding philosophy of the Republic, the anti-imperialist struggle for independence, and secularism.

The Assembly characterized Tekin's comments not merely as a terminological choice but as an "admission by authorized figures of the political power" of a "systematic counter-revolutionary attack" against the republic's core tenets, its anti-imperialist struggle for independence, and secularism. They pointed to the Ministry of National Education's alleged removal of content from 8th-grade textbooks detailing the last Ottoman Sultan Vahdettin's escape from the country on a British ship as evidence of this historical revisionism.

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These statements, detached from historical facts, are examples of a new historical writing that is one of the most dangerous attacks of the counter-revolution.

Furthermore, the Assembly argued that the late Ottoman period was a time of collapse, marked by capitulations and the transfer of political and economic sovereignty to imperial powers, leaving the Anatolian people in ignorance and poverty. In contrast, they asserted that the War of Independence was a fight for full sovereignty against imperialism and a transition from subjugation to becoming free citizens. The Assembly criticized proponents of a "neo-Ottoman" historical narrative for attempting to portray the Republic's founding as a mere continuation or restoration of the Ottoman era, thereby undermining the War of Independence's revolutionary essence.

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The last period of the Ottoman Empire was a period of collapse, where political and economic sovereignty was transferred to imperialism through capitulations and the Public Debt Administration, and the Anatolian people were abandoned to ignorance and poverty.

The statement also highlighted that the will to be free from imperialism has been deeply rooted in Turkish lands for over a century, warning that this will would re-emerge if necessary through a "second war of independence." The Assembly accused the current political administration of seeking to establish a political Islamist, Ottomanist, reactionary, and market-oriented regime aligned with imperialist agendas. They specifically criticized the education system's role in this transformation, citing the establishment of vocational education centers (MESEM) that exploit labor and children, the infiltration of religious sects and communities into schools, and the minister's opposition to co-education in favor of increased religious instruction, moving away from Republican values.

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The War of Independence is a struggle for full independence against imperialism. It is a break from being a subject to becoming a free citizen.