In Şırnak (Şirnex) and its districts, the Provincial Security Directorate’s attempt to impose intelligence recruitment on students under the program “Şırnak Youth and a Secure Future” was protested with a press statement organized by the Education and Science Workers’ Union (Egitim- Sen) Şırnak Branch in front of the Provincial Directorate of National Education.
The protest was attended by Confederation of Public Employees’ Trade Unions (KESK) Co-chair Ayfer Koçak, Egitim Sen Central Executive Board member Zülküf Güneş, the Mardin (Mêrdîn), Diyarbakır (Amed) and Batman (Êlîh) branches of the union, as well as the provincial and district organizations of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) and the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party).
During the demonstration, a banner reading “Depriving children of education through protocols” was unfurled, while placards stating “End the policies of informant recruitment” were carried.
Egitim-Sen Şırnak Branch Chair Adnan Şenbayram stated in the press statement that the so-called seminars were part of the Ministry of National Education’s ideological transformation projects, and added: “The Ministry has formalized these ideological and reactionary transformation projects under the name of the ‘Century of Türkiye Maarif Model’ and has expanded practices that distance education from scientific, secular, and modern foundations through protocols such as ÇEDES (I am sensitive to my environment, I uphold my values) and similar agreements.”
Students were shown violence videos
Şenbayram stated that serious rights violations occurred during the “Youth and a Secure Future” seminars held for 9th grade secondary school students in April and May 2024. He noted that the seminars were carried out in cooperation with police units and used content that had not undergone pedagogical evaluation or been reviewed by school guidance counselors and experts.
Şenbayram said, “During the seminars, students were shown videos of violence and conflict, the language of informant recruitment was encouraged, and students’ consciousness was manipulated with militaristic and nationalist discourse,” and emphasizing that these practices were in violation of the safety of the educational environment and of children’s rights.
Abandon militarist policies
KESK Co-chair Ayfer Koçak, who spoke after the statement, said that the policies targeting students were unacceptable and continued: “Children’s futures are being burned, the forests surrounding Şırnak are being destroyed, the mountains are being torn apart, and by intervening in the children’s education processes, their futures are being annihilated. And under what conditions is all of this happening? At a time when commissions on brotherhood and solidarity are being held in Ankara, when efforts to initiate a peace process are underway. This is not independent of the process of non-conflict. Yes, times of war are times when democracy is shelved. In conditions where there is no democracy, the poor who live by their labor pay the entire price. We no longer want to pay this price. Militarist policies that provoke war must be abandoned immediately.”