He defended protocols with religious sects by calling them 'NGOs': This is how they brushed off the application

The Ministry of National Education’s 2024 budget negotiations saw Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin’s remarks on religious sects and communities spark reactions.

Many politicians and NGOs had called on Minister Tekin to resign.

Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin, in his speech at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM), had stated, “You call them ‘sects and communities,’ but we call them ‘NGOs,’ and we have about 10 protocols with them in total. We will continue to sign protocols with them.”

"ALL SIGNED PROTOCOLS..."

According to the report by Mustafa Bildircin from BirGün; while the attempts by education unions to disclose the names of the foundations and associations with which protocols were signed remained inconclusive, no results were obtained from the information request made through the Presidential Communication Center (CİMER). The Ministry of National Education (MEB) responded on December 20 to the application made on December 19, which sought answers to the questions, “Which institutions have cooperation protocols been signed with since 2018? What are the names of these institutions? What is the content of the protocols?” However, in the response, the institutions and organizations with which the MEB cooperates were once again concealed.

The following statements were used in the letter prepared by the MEB Strategy Development Department in response to the information request:

“All signed protocols are evaluated and concluded in a manner that does not constitute a violation of the provisions, principles, and objectives specified in the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey, the Basic Law of National Education, the general objectives of Turkish national education, and other legal regulations.”