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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.
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"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.
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Akalın stated, "Horrible! It is truly unbelievable! I am looking forward to your resignation!"
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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While doing this, you defended yourselves with secularism. So, is the secularism you defend the same as the secularism I understand? It is not."
News Source : 12punto
