Teacher arrested for harassment: Sent photos of his genitals

The incident occurred on the evening of November 13 in Sincan. According to allegations, physical education teacher N.Ş. (52), employed at Yenikentİlksan Anatolian High School,sent photos of his genitals to the school girls' volleyball team's messaging group. Police launched an investigation following complaints from parents anddetained the harassing teacher. N.Ş., who was simultaneouslydismissed from his post, was brought before a court, arrested,and sentto prison. It was learned that in his statement, the suspect said he had been trying to send thephotos to his girlfriend and accidentally shared them in the groupcontaining thestudents.Parents who said theirchildren were in shockclaimed that N.Ş.had engaged in similar behaviour beforeand stated they would follow the process closely. "I SAW HERCOME OUTOF HER ROOMCRYING"

EmreÖzbek,one of the parents who spoke about the incident, said: "I saw my daughter come out of her roomcrying.She went to her mother. I triedto find out what had happened. I saw that the physical educationteacherhad sent a photo of his genitals to a group used by the school's girls' volleyball teamand had committed sexual abuse. I was furious.

I filed a report. We went to the police station. The schooladministration also came to our side and supported us. We stayed there until the early hours of the morning. They also took statements from the other children."

"WE WANTTHE NECESSARYACTION TO BE TAKEN"

Father Özbek, expressing that they had suffered moral harm from the situation, said: "Something like this happening has caused us enormous moral damage. We want everyone to know what thisdisgrace of a teacher did, and we want the authorities to pursue the matter. We learned that the teacherhas been dismissed from his post.His career is completely over. We wantthe necessary steps taken so that he receives an even harsher sentence."

"I AM EVEN CAREFULWHENI HUG MY OWN DAUGHTER"

Father Özbek, stressing that the suspect must receive the punishment he deserves, said: "My daughter couldn't hold herself together at that moment — she started trembling and crying. She is stilljust a child. She didn't know what to do. I am even careful when I hug my own daughter. Being subjected to something like this by someone elsehas worn her down terribly. We got her a leave of absence from school. I will get psychological support for my daughter. Right now all we want is for the suspect to receive the harshest possible sentence. I will stand by my daughter to the end. I will keepfighting to the end."

"IT IS ALLEGED HE INVITEDSTUDENTS TO HIS ROOMBYBUYINGTHEMFOOD"

Özbek, noting that there were allegations the harassing teacher had engaged in similar behaviour before, said:"We had heard that this teacher had previously tried to get close to his students. It was alleged that he gave students money, bought them food, and invited them to his room. We received feedbackthat he had hugged and touched students. Those who supported us had told us these things. I am very upset. At the very least this constitutes physical harassment. I want justice to be served."

Sibel Dervazoglu,one of the parents who said they were living in fear because of what had happened,spoke as follows:"I haven't been able to sleep since I heard about the incident.We thought we were sending our children to schoolsafely.The fact that someone whose job is to be a teacher did something like this

has deeply upset us. We are scared and worried. There were 14-year-old children in front of him. We will do whatever it takes and report him wherever necessary to ensure he is punished. The same thing could have happened to my ownchild. We are filing a complaint. When we spoke with the school administration, they told us that teacher would never be allowed to enter this school again. What worries us is the future. This person could be released.He could open a private business."

"UNFORTUNATELY THERE ARE PEOPLEWHO CANNOT UPHOLDTHISPROFESSION"

Dervazoglu, stating that her daughter was not among the victims but that she was deeply worried, said: "When I told my daughter what had happened, she became veryanxious. We are uneasy — we haven't been able to sleep since yesterday. I want the school to ensurethe children'ssafety.Our children spend hours at school.We have to trust the teachers.This is a very distressing situation. Of course not every teacheris like this.Unfortunately there are people who cannot uphold this profession."

"HE KEPT WRITING AS IFNOTHINGHADHAPPENED"

Özbek's daughter, who is among the victims, said she was deeply affected by the incident: "I was following the conversations in the group about ourmatch. Then I came across reactive messages from my friends. My friends had written, 'Sir, could you please delete these messages.'The teacher kept writing as if nothing had happened. Then I saw the inappropriate photos he had sent to the group.I was in shock at that moment.I wasn't aware of what I was experiencing. I told my family. My mother and father were also in shock. They filed a report. We went to the police station. It was a very stressful day.I still don't fully grasp what I went through. I am still in shock and haven't recovered from its effects.I feel unsafe."

The victim student, stating that the suspect should never be allowed to teach again, said:"I heard that the teacher had previously been especially close and overly familiar with female students. I do not want this person to teach again or to walk around freely. I want everyone to know about this disgraceful act he committed. I never want him to be at ease. Normally he always spoke harshly to us and didn't want us to answer back, but he absolutely did not want us to leave the team either."

News Source: İHA