Teachers' protest continues: This government abolished our fellow teachers' right to a base salary

A press statement intended to be held at Kurtuluş Park, called for by the Private Sector Teachers' Union and teachers affected by the interview system to demand that promises made to teachers be kept, was blocked by the police. While some teachers were not allowed to leave the hotel where they were staying, they were placed under blockade in front of the hotel.

The Private Sector Teachers' Union and teachers affected by the interview system protested the detentions and police intervention in a statement made in Ankara, demanding that the promises made be kept. In the action supported by education unions, teachers drew attention to the loss of rights, appointment problems, and grievances caused by the interview system.

Speaking on behalf of the Private Sector Teachers' Union, Irmak Gürkan stated the following:

"We came to Ankara from all over Turkey together with our friends from the Private Sector Teachers' Union and the Interview Victims Platform. We wanted to voice our demands in front of the Ministry of National Education, remind them that we want to receive the compensation for our labor, and once again etch into the public memory that the promises made by every level of the bureaucracy as a result of both negotiations and our actions must be kept.

However, the Ankara Police dragged our fellow teachers who came from all over Turkey and our families who came to support us on the ground and detained them. Together with our friends who were released yesterday, we wanted to meet again at Kurtuluş Park today to reiterate our demands.

We came to Kurtuluş Park to express that we no longer want to experience the bitter consequences of the marketization of education, to demand the resignation of Yusuf Tekin, who serves no purpose other than implementing the government's political agenda, and to demand the compensation for our labor. However, we encountered a similar scene again.

In this country that bows down to NATO, disproportionate violence was applied to our educator friends who are trying to make a living with their labor. Many of our friends were detained. We do not even have clear information about how many people are free and how many are still in custody.

Since the early hours of the morning, our friends affected by the interview system were at the Enerji Hotel. They are also being held under police blockade. We want to make a joint statement with our friends there. However, this is also being blocked by the Ankara Police.

We want to state this once again: As the Private Sector Teachers' Union and together with dozens of our friends whose rights have been usurped, we will not leave Ankara. We will continue to weave our struggle for our demands not only today, but every day, on the streets of Ankara and all over Turkey."

"The 'One-Man' regime is responsible"

Eğitim-İş General President Kadem Özbay expressed the following:

"As the Eğitim-İş Union, we stand by this honorable struggle of our teachers working in the private sector and our teachers who are not appointed, rather than those who cannot be appointed.

In fact, the scene you see here today is proof of the scene I have persistently described as 'Turkey being turned into an open-air prison.' Today, our friends who wanted to voice their legitimate demands there were detained, meaning they were crammed into a closed space. But as you can see, we all live in an open-air prison surrounded by unlawful orders.

Do you know what is most poignant these days? A violence commission is meeting in Parliament and in schools. Well, who were the ones appearing before the public and making statements when incidents of violence occurred in schools? Wasn't it the Minister of Interior, the Minister of National Education, and the Minister of Justice?

The Minister of Interior described the cameras they would install. The Minister of National Education delegated the measures to be taken to artificial intelligence. The Minister of Justice could not go beyond the rhetoric of 'The Republic of Turkey is a state of law,' which we are now very accustomed to.

So, who are the ones giving this order today? Who are the ones pitting the police, and even law enforcement officers who include unappointed teachers, against teachers today?

Our police friends here are not impatient to intervene against us. They have no issue with the teachers here. However, there is a Ministry of Interior mentality that gives them this order. There is a Minister of National Education who makes promises to private sector teachers but cannot go beyond being the minister of sects and bosses. There is a Ministry of Justice that does not apply legal sanctions as required when a teacher is subjected to violence or a student is subjected to violence.

Today, we are facing a picture of a country managed with a one-man mentality that creates a besieged school, an isolated teacher, and a student without a future; a country that brings this order into existence. The responsibility for this belongs to the political order managed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan."

Eğitim-Sen General President Kemal Irmak spoke as follows:

"This government abolished the base salary right of our fellow teachers working in the private sector. They were told, 'You will work for whatever wage the bosses deem appropriate for you.' As for our unappointed teacher friends, they are being kept waiting despite there still being nearly 200 thousand teacher vacancies in the country. Their appointments are not being made. And then there are our friends who are victims of the interview system. They, too, are not receiving the compensation for their labor and rights, and they are waiting for justice."

Kader Akman, one of the teachers seeking their rights, said:

"I was here today too. Yes, I was blockaded. We were kept there for a long time. I am here, but I was not detained. Do you know why? Because they said, 'Do not touch the covered ones.' However, despite being covered, they tore my shirt. They took off my headscarf. I didn't know how to cover it, I had to wear a hat. They are not ashamed of this. But they don't detain me because they think it would cause a reaction if I were detained. There used to be headscarf victims. Today, there are interview victims. There are grievances experienced by private sector teachers. So, in fact, grievances never end. New grievances are constantly being created."

Fatma Nur Taşkın, who is also struggling to seek her rights, showed her shirt torn during the police intervention and said, "They tore my shirt from top to bottom. I guess their only concern is that our heads shouldn't be uncovered. They say they respect the headscarf, but they don't mind our clothes being shredded."

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