Principal accused of abuse detained in Turkey’s central Anatolia

ESKİŞEHİR – Doğan News Agency

The principal of a religious vocational school in Turkey’s central Anatolian province of Eskişehir has been detained on allegations he hit a number of students with a hose and forced two students to sit on plastic bottles as punishment for making noise before class.

An investigation was opened into the principal of 19 June imam hatip high school in Eskişehir’s Beylikova district, identified only by his initials Ü.D., for allegedly forcing two students to sit on a plastic bottle in the class and hitting students with a hose. The principal was removed from his duty and reassigned to a post in the public education center on March 23 before he was detained late night on the same day.

On March 10, Ü.D. allegedly forced two students from the sixth grade class to sit on plastic water bottles inside the classroom as punishment for making noise before the class started. The two students, identified as M.A.E. and F.K., were allegedly dragged by their arms and forced to sit on the bottle by the principal, who left the classroom after the students started screaming and crying.

The same principal was alleged to have hit 13 students, including two female students, from the same sixth grade class with a hose on March 20, only 10 days after the first incident, again on claims of making noise before class.

Six families of the 13 students allegedly abused by the principal filed a complaint against the principal, whereupon an investigation was launched. Ü.D. denied the accusations and demanded a thorough investigation into the claims.

A parent of one of the two students who was forced to sit on a plastic bottle said they had a report proving his son was abused, adding his son became depressed after the incident.

“My child, who was [very successful at school] now says he does not want to go to school,” said the parent.

Another parent, whose son was among the 13 students hit by a hose, said the provincial education head had told them to stay silent and not file a complaint against the principal as the complaint would be imprinted to the student’s registry.

“They [the provincial education branch] told us they would handle the situation,” the parent said.