Ahmet Hakan joins daycare row, targets İmamoğlu: 'Oh, if only they would close them so we could have our day...'

Following the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change's issuance of a warning letter to municipalities and the governorships of 81 provinces regarding daycare centers operated by municipalities, the Ministry of National Education (MEB) issued instructions for the closure of municipal daycare centers and the prevention of the opening of new ones.

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu reacted sharply to the MEB's daycare directive, stating, "If you have the courage, close the 150 daycare centers. Your letter is meaningless and holds no weight."

Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin responded to Ekrem İmamoğlu by saying, "They are saying this to manipulate the public, they are lying." İmamoğlu, in turn, shared the letter sent by the MEB on his X account.

The Minister of National Education said, “the letter we sent is not about daycare centers, but about kindergartens.” Here is the official letter. From the very first line, it mentions municipal daycare centers.

To write 'daycare' in an official letter and then say “I didn't say daycare, I said kindergarten” is fitting for this mindset. Furthermore, the last… pic.twitter.com/xATQrTcPYj

— Ekrem İmamoğlu (@ekrem_imamoglu) November 25, 2024

Hürriyet Editor-in-Chief Ahmet Hakan, known for his proximity to the government, targeted İBB Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu over the daycare debates.

Evaluating the events in his column today, Hakan criticized the language used in official correspondence.

“For some reason, official letters in our country are never clear, simple, plain, or understandable. The sentences must be long. The expressions must be flowery. You read it, you don't understand. You read it again, you still don't understand. You pull your hair out, wondering ‘what are they trying to say?’ Especially if the subject of the official letter concerns any issue that a polarized political environment loves to debate, that is when things get messy and order is disrupted,” said Ahmet Hakan, expressing that he had read the relevant letter ten times but could not fully understand it.

Continuing with a suggestion for a simpler letter, Ahmet Hakan also touched upon Ekrem İmamoğlu’s challenge, stating, “When there is nothing on the table yet, putting forward reactions like ‘They are going to close our daycare centers. Come and close them if you dare’ can be understood as an expression of the expectation that ‘Oh, if only they would close our daycare centers so we could have our day.’”

Ahmet Hakan’s article titled ‘If the Official Letter That Caused the Controversy Had Been Written Like This Instead of That’ is as follows:

For some reason, official letters in our country are not clear, simple, plain, or understandable.

The sentences must be long.

The expressions must be flowery.

You read it, you don't understand. You read it again, you still don't understand.

You pull your hair out, wondering “what are they trying to say?”

Especially if the subject of the official letter concerns any issue that a polarized political environment loves to debate...

That is when things get messy and order is disrupted.

I read the official letter that sparked the “municipalities and daycare” debate.

Not once, not twice, not three times, but ten times.

I could not fully understand the intent of the letter.

I was exhausted from struggling with “Does it mean this / does it mean that?”

I read one sentence of the letter: I concluded “Daycare centers are being closed.” I read another sentence: I concluded “No, they are not being closed.”

While wandering between the sentences of the letter...

I also said, “They are issuing a warning, there is no closure.” I also said, “They won't let them open any more from now on.”

However, by looking at the statements of Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin...

I understood what the purpose was.

The letter that should have been written in line with the purpose put forward by the Minister should have been like this, not that:

“Dear Municipalities.

You can open as many daycare centers as you want.

In fact, open even more.

However, according to the law, you cannot open kindergartens.

Follow the laws.

Open daycare centers.

Do not open kindergartens.

If you open a kindergarten, our responsibility to enforce the law and close it will arise.”

This letter I proposed...

It is not solemn, dignified, or stern, but at least what it means is easily understood.

THE DAYCARE AND MUNICIPALITY DEBATE

First, let us know these two principles well:

- ONE: Municipalities can open daycare centers. Daycare centers opened by municipalities cannot be closed. Municipalities cannot be prevented from opening daycare centers.

- TWO: Municipalities cannot open kindergartens or nursery classes. Because the Constitutional Court (AYM) cancelled the provision in the Municipal Law that stated “They can open pre-school education institutions” in 2007 upon the application of the CHP.

Let us make our judgments within the framework of these two principles:

- JUDGMENT ONE: No minister can lock the doors of a daycare center opened by any municipality. Because municipalities have the right to open daycare centers.

- JUDGMENT TWO: The relevant minister can close a kindergarten opened by a municipality. Because no municipality can open a kindergarten under the name of a “daycare center.”

But what if the ministry prevents the daycare centers opened by municipalities with an unfair/unlawful claim that “You have opened a kindergarten under the name of a daycare center”?

What will happen then?

Then the municipalities will stir things up by saying “What I opened is a daycare center, not a kindergarten.”

But when there is nothing on the table yet...

Putting forward reactions like “They are going to close our daycare centers. Come and close them if you dare”...

Is understood as an expression of the expectation that “Oh, if only they would close our daycare centers so we could have our day.”