Demet Akalın reacts to Minister Tekin on 'secularism': 'I am looking forward to your resignation'

The remarks made by Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin regarding secularism while attending the AKP Batman Central District 8th Ordinary Congress have sparked controversy.

"You are imposing on me a concept of secularism that you invented yourself, unique to Turkey," said Tekin, to which singer Demet Akalın also reacted via her X account.

Akalın stated, "Horrible! It is truly unbelievable! I am looking forward to your resignation!"

WHAT DID YUSUF TEKİN SAY?

"They are criticizing me. They tell me that what I am saying is contrary to secular education. I say that it might be contrary to you, but it is not contrary to the values of the citizens in Batman or Erzurum. If there is a contradiction, it is between what you understand by secularism and what the citizens understand. The secularism you understand is this: remember the 1940s, locking the doors of mosques, turning mosques into stables, and banning citizens from learning the Quran.

This is what you understand by secularism. You did these things as a requirement of secularism. So, what you understand by secularism and what I understand are not the same. I understand secularism as the state guaranteeing the freedom of religious belief and worship for all citizens, regardless of which religion they believe in.

What do you understand? You understand the shackling and banning of Muslims' freedom of belief. So, there is undoubtedly a difference between our understandings of secularism.

I am in favor of universal secularism; you are imposing on me a concept of secularism that you invented yourself, unique to Turkey. This is not acceptable. What you understand by secularism is this: taking a child who wants to go to university with a headscarf into 'persuasion rooms' to try to persuade her, and you did this in the name of secularism.

While doing this, you defended yourselves with secularism. So, is the secularism you defend the same as the secularism I understand? It is not."