Harsh letter from Celal Şengör to Yusuf Tekin: 'You are a clear and major threat to the future of our country'

Prof. Dr. Celal Şengör wrote a letter to Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin regarding the ongoing 'foreign school' crisis between Turkey and France.

In his letter titled "Minister! Take your hands off the French high schools...", Şengör addressed Minister Yusuf Tekin, saying, "I hope the people of this country will ensure that you and your cronies are removed from the seats you occupy, and that your trolls are removed from X. You are a clear and major threat to the future of our country."

Journalist Fatih Altaylı reported the full text of Şengör's letter on his own website: 

"Minister of National Education, 

You are threatening the Charles de Gaulle and Pierre Loti schools, demanding that they adapt to the freakish, reactionary curriculum you have created. I hope these schools do not take you seriously. Every secondary school operating in a country must, of course, be under the supervision of that country's Minister of National Education. However, this rule has lost its validity in Turkey, because you are producing reactionary education programs that are contrary to both our country's constitution and the laws based on that constitution, and you want to impose them on schools. The Charles de Gaulle and Pierre Loti schools must naturally consider the constitution and the laws first, not you and your cronies who undermine them. Therefore, as long as you act against the constitution and the laws, as long as you force religious and science questions to be weighted equally in high school entrance exams in our country, which is trying to be governed by a secular system, and as long as you allow sects that should actually be banned into our schools, no one will listen to you, because this is against our constitution. Your dim-witted trolls accuse our schools of teaching the CHP program. Who do you think this pompous lie is fooling? 

You accuse the Charles de Gaulle and Pierre Loti educational institutions of being 'colonial schools.' No! Pierre Loti, in particular, was a great writer who was a lover of Turkey and a friend of the Turks. Wouldn't attacking his memory make our country look uncivilized? The schools bearing his name and the name of General de Gaulle, who saved his country from Hitler's clutches without bowing to Nazi tyranny, provide an education that contemporary civilization requires. Why do you think countless citizens of ours work to get their children into those schools? Their intention is to ensure their children are raised in a civilized environment, in line with Atatürk's principles, that is, in line with sound reason, and to save them from the schools you intend to make reactionary. If I were them, I would do the same. Indeed, Oya and I also sent our child to a foreign school. Thank goodness, they were able to receive a good education. In the end, they were able to get into ETH-Zürich, one of the best universities in the world, and received their doctorate there. I hope the people of this country will ensure that you and your cronies are removed from the seats you occupy, and that your trolls are removed from X. You are a clear and major threat to the future of our country. I hope all parents realize this."

News Source: 12punto