Minister Tekin: We have added new courses where our children can learn about their religious beliefs

Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin, who was in Gaziantep for a series of programs, visited the rural Killik Neighborhood Cemevi in the Şahinbey district and met with Alevi citizens. Minister Yusuf Tekin was accompanied by Governor Kemal Çeber, AK Party Group Deputy Chairman Abdulhamit Gül, and city protocol members. Speaking during the visit, Minister Tekin stated that they would continue to take every step as a ministry for national unity and solidarity.

"The primary function of the Ministry of National Education is to raise a generation that knows unity, solidarity, and the consciousness of being a nation in society"

Speaking during the visit, Minister Yusuf Tekin said, "We have always approached the primary function of the Ministry of National Education as raising a generation that knows unity, solidarity, and the consciousness of being a nation in society, and that owns, should own, and considers it a duty to protect our history, culture, traditions, our desire to live together, and our civilization. I have continued this way since the day I started. Every step we have taken and everything we have done has been driven by the sensitivity to protect the legacy left to us by our elders, ancestors, grandfathers, martyrs, and veterans who made this geography our homeland. We acted on this parameter while revising our curriculum. We said that we are living in a period where human values are ignored, and conflict is used as a method to manage people, and discord and sedition are used to divide people in order to divide and rule them easily. Our geography, on the other hand, is a geography that all imperial powers look at with envy, with their mouths watering. In order for this geography to be protected with the same sensitivities according to the values I mentioned earlier, we need to take steps that will continue our unity, solidarity, and law of brotherhood, in a way that challenges the whole world," he said.

"We no longer have any excuses to re-establish the climate of brotherhood"

Minister Yusuf Tekin stated, "We have endeavored to take every step that needs to be taken to re-establish the climate of brotherhood in Turkey and to strengthen our national unity and solidarity. We have taken very important steps under the leadership of our President on this issue. Especially in this process, with the contribution of the great leader and great partner of the People's Alliance, Dr. Devlet Bahçeli, the process has evolved into a different point. Currently, in Turkey, we no longer have any excuses to establish this brotherhood and to make the climate of brotherhood dominant again, with this strong political will that those who represent the executive power have behind them. We are acting based on this reality, and everywhere we go in Anatolia, we are carrying out work declaring that we will work together with everyone who is honored to live under this flag and proud to see this flag waving above us, so that this flag will wave forever, and that we will overcome our problems together. In this sense, the Alevi-Bektashi Cemevi Culture Presidency, which was established within the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2022, is a very important step in this regard," he said.

"We have added new courses to our curriculum where our children can learn about their religious beliefs"

Stating that as a ministry, they have added courses to the new curriculum where children can learn about their religious beliefs, Minister Tekin said, "Last Saturday, we had a conversation with a group of dedes in Istanbul. I said, 'It is one of the most important steps taken in the last 100 years.' He corrected me. He said, 'It is the most important step taken in 500 years.' It is up to us to do the work that will fill this step. As a brother of yours who is the Minister of National Education, as a brother of yours raised in this geography, and as a brother of yours who is aware of how great a need it is to strengthen national unity and solidarity in this geography, we are doing what needs to be done in this process on behalf of the Ministry of National Education. By the way, I thank Mr. Erdal. He has been coordinating this process very healthily from the beginning. We have listed the things we can do within the Ministry of National Education. With the work we started about two years ago under the title 'Contributions of Anatolian Wisdom to Education,' we first weeded out the expressions in our programs, that is, our school curriculum, that we thought harmed our national unity and solidarity, and added new issues. We have added new courses to our curriculum where our children can learn about their religious beliefs. While doing this, we paid maximum attention to the privacy of our children and their sensitivities in this regard. We carried it out sensitively without exposing anyone or leaving anyone facing a situation like revealing a personal belief that they did not want to say or explain. We continue to carry it out," he said.

"We have defined modules to overcome the problems regarding the training of dedes and zakirs"

Stating that they are working as a ministry for the training of dedes and zakirs, Minister Tekin said, "Now, another issue we have focused on in recent days is that we have defined modules through our General Directorate of Lifelong Learning to overcome the problems we experience in Turkey, especially regarding the training of dedes and zakirs. Hopefully, we will complete the process and share it with the public in the near future. I look at the subject like this. And when Veysel begins his poem of unity, he starts by saying 'God is one, the Prophet is the truth,' and when he finishes, he says, 'What is Alevi-Sunni, it is all about self-interest.' This is how I look at it. We are all aware in Turkey that there is a group of people who feed on these seeds of discord, who want to sow seeds of separation and discord among us, and who want to use these issues for their political interests. And as a brother of yours, I sincerely see it as a duty to produce solutions that will meet the needs of all citizens of the Republic of Turkey without discrimination, and to take steps that will strengthen and reinforce our national unity, in a way that befits a Muslim and a way that befits the Republic of Turkey, and I act accordingly. I believe that this should be evaluated beyond all political disputes. We will continue to proceed in this way. The support of our President and Mr. Bahçeli towards us on this issue encourages us a lot. I believe in this. Our centers of faith and places of worship are the places that keep us together as a nation and strengthen our unity and solidarity. I think we should all protect this together," he said.

"We are here to take steps that will reinforce the climate of unity and solidarity"

Emphasizing unity and solidarity during the visit, Minister Tekin said, "If we do not make our national unity and solidarity strong, we could very quickly fall into the clutches of imperial powers and structures with hostile goals, God forbid. There are many examples of this throughout history. Therefore, the duty that falls upon us as people who carry the responsibility of the state and the responsibility of the nation is to take steps that will strengthen this unity and solidarity. I would like my visit here today to be interpreted in this way. As a brother of yours, we were here to express that we are here to take these steps, both personally and with the will of the President I represent, for whatever steps need to be taken to reinforce this climate of unity and solidarity. Thank you again for your hospitality and your invitation. May God make our unity, solidarity, and brotherhood eternal," he said.