Teachers fired during Feb 28 set to return

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Education Minister Avcı says interest in İmam Hatip schools is high. AA photo

Teachers dismissed from their positions during the Feb. 28 process will be able to return to their posts under amendments in the omnibus bill, Education Minister Nabi Avcı said yesterday.

“A majority of those [who had to leave their profession] were members of the national education. More than 1,800 teachers have returned to their profession in the past 10 years in this regard. A new regulation has been made to remind the teachers and education workers who did not start the profession or have an unclear situation that they again have such a right [to return to the profession],” Avcı said.

A military memorandum Feb. 28, 1997 sparked the turmoil that led to the resignation of the ruling Islamist coalition government later that year. The events, which came to be known as the Feb. 28 process, are often referred to as a “post-modern coup.” Hundreds of teachers were among the public service workers who were dismissed from their positions for wearing headscarves or for their Islamic lifestyles.

Avcı said they did not have any numbers for the education teachers who had to leave the profession due to the Feb. 28 process, but added that they expected to have around 1,800 people who had not returned to their jobs yet.

Meanwhile, Avcı also said there was a misperception in the public that students who did not get grades sufficient for entering Anatolia High Schools would have to attend vocational high schools or religious imam-hatip high schools.

He also said they were opening multi-program high school classes for those who could not find places at regular high schools.