Middle-school principal in Nevşehir suspended after social media post cursing secularists

NEVŞEHİR

A local middle school principal has been suspended after he allegedly shared a post on his Facebook account humiliating and cursing seculars, while vowing that an Islamic caliphate would return to Turkey by 2024, as part of a probe launched against him in the central Anatolian province of Nevşehir.

After complaints were made with the province’s education directorate, İskender Çınar, the principal of Yunus Emre Religious Vocational Middle School, was suspended from his post. Education Directorate Deputy Head Yasin Sezel said the administrative probe into Çınar was ongoing.

On New Year’s Eve Çınar, who is also the Nevşehir branch deputy head of Eğitim Bir-Sen, an education sector trade union, shared posts that said, “The primary devil is secularism. Secularism means accepting the existence of God but denying his laws. Secularism is infidelity. All the thieves in this world are seculars,” he said.  

Mustafa Uğur, the Nevşehir Branch Head of Eğitim-Sen, a left-wing education sector trade union, said the society was relieved after Çınar’s suspension. “He would pay the price of what he has done and will not succeed in disrupting our union and solidarity,” Uğur said.   

Meanwhile, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Nevşehir office has filed a criminal complaint against Çınar. The office’s head, Kamil Gülmez, said Çınar’s suspension came with the efforts of his office and two inspectors had been tasked in his case. He said a criminal complaint was also filed against Çınar at a public prosecutor’s office. 

Çınar’s comments also included insulting Turkey’s early republican era revolutions and said they were “heathenizing.”