'Perversity' to ban short sleeved t-shirts at schools, says CHP leader
BURSA - Anatolia News Agency
AA photo
Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has slammed the government's recent decision to abolish the single-type school uniform requirement in schools.Speaking on a visit to Bursa, Kılıçdaroğlu stressed the possible consequences of the new regulation on children's psychology, as he said children not wearing uniforms at school would further emphasize the economic difference between their families.
"The logic of single-type uniform is to equalize the economic differences between students and to make all pupils feel equal at school ... Politicians should not play politics with children. I feel sorry for these children," he said.
"Excuse me, but if one bans little pupils from wearing short sleeved t-shirts at schools, I would call this perversity," Kılıçdaroğlu said, adding that he thought Turkey had started losing its Republican values.
The amendment regarding school dress code changes was published in the Official Gazette on Nov. 27 and will come into effect in the next school year.
CHP continues attempts to rescue missing US journalist
ISTANBUL
Main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has directed his party to try and rescue an American journalist currently held in Syria after the man’s family appealed to the Republican People’s Party (CHP) for help, Anatolia news agency has reported.
Kılıçdaroğlu said they were trying to retrieve American journalist Austin Tice amid continuing negotiations to rescue missing journalist Bashar Fehmi Kadumi.
A delegation composed of CHP lawmakers went to Syria to bring home Turkish journalist Cüneyt Ünal after he was held for three months in a Syrian prison. Ünal, who works for U.S.-funded broadcaster al-Hurra, went missing with his Jordanian colleague, Kadumi, soon after crossing the Turkish-Syrian border on Aug. 20 to report on the civil war in the country.
Tice was last seen in the Damascus suburb of Darayya four months ago. The 31-year-old journalist, who works for the Washington Post and McClatchy Newspapers, last contacted his family on Aug. 12. In his last Twitter post on Aug. 11, Tice wrote that he spent his birthday at a pool party with rebel Free Syrian Army members. A video clip posted online in late September showed Tice alive in the custody of gunmen. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland previously said they believed that Syrian authorities had taken Tice into custody, but Syria has not confirmed his detention.