‘Hijab-clad children should be escorted into schools by the police’

Children wearing hijabs should be escorted into schools in north Cyprus by the police, the TRNC’s ‘transport minister’ Erhan Arikli said on Friday, as what some in the media have dubbed the “headscarf crisis” rumbles on.

“The education ministry should do what is necessary and take those children to school with the help of the police. And they should open an investigation into the trade union and into the teachers who want to stop the children going in,” he told news website Kibris Gercek.

He added, “you cannot prevent a constitutional right”.

“A teacher can discipline a child but never not let them into school. Therefore, the union and the teachers are committing a constitutional crime here. The education minister must immediately report this to the police and file a complaint,” he said.

He also said the teachers’ decision to not allow children wearing religious garments into schools was “arbitrary” and “completely unacceptable”.

“This is not just a legal issue, it is a matter of conscience,” he added.

Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar stressed to Kibris Postasi TV that whether or not a child wears a hijab is a “personal choice”.

“In this country, there are those who have religious beliefs and those who do not; there are those who go to mosques and those who do not. These are personal choices,” he said.

“It is a very wrong approach for teachers’ trade unions to not allow a child to go to school because of her headscarf. Is it a legal right to not allow a child to go to school because of her headscarf? No one is talking about this.”

He also criticised trade unions for their rhetoric during protests.

“Unions are constantly saying, ‘Turkey, get your hands off us’. They are using the phrase ‘go home’ in the direction of Turkey’s ambassador in Nicosia. This is not talked about enough,” he said

On the matter of whether the wearing of headscarves by children in schools will in the end be legalised, he said, “I am sure that [‘prime minister’] Unal Ustel and [‘education minister’] Nazim Cavusoglu will do what is necessary”.

Across town at northern Nicosia’s central police station, two teachers’ trade unions filed complaints to the police over alleged “personal insults and threats” made against high-profile union members and the unions themselves over the matter in recent weeks.

Outside the police station, lawyer Cansu Nazli said Cyprus Turkish secondary education teachers’ union (Ktoeos) leader Selma Eylem was “personally sent threats of violence, death threats, insults, and hate speech”, while public social media posts containing similar content were also allegedly published by some individuals.

In total, Nazli said, “almost 30 people” were reported to the police.

Earlier, Ktoeos and the Cyprus Turkish teachers’ trade union (Ktos) announced their joint intention to hold a protest next Tuesday evening.

“The aim of these political interventions imposed on the Turkish Cypriots is to separate the Turkish Cypriot community from its identity. This aim is supported by the interventions made in our education system. We will all go out onto the streets an raise our voices to say ‘stop’ to those who ignore secular education and our secular society,” Eylem said.

The protest is being supported by opposition political parties the CTP and the TDP, as well as other minor political parties and a plethora of trade unions.

The ruling coalition had initially legalised the wearing of hijabs in schools midway through March, but faced a fierce backlash from teachers, the majority of whom are staunchly secular, before withdrawing the amendment on the morning of the protest at the embassy.

Teachers were nonetheless keen to show their displeasure at the amendment and their view that the embassy had played a role, with some even believing it was put down to deliberately sow division in Turkish Cypriot society.

At the protest, Eylem called on ambassador Ali Murat Basceri to “go home”, with footage of her speech now having gone viral in Turkey, where political tensions are heightened for separate reasons.

Tatar had demanded that legal action be taken against teachers who “disturbed our peace” during the protests, saying that he would meet with Turkish Cypriot police chief Kasim Kuni and chief public prosecutor Sarper Altincik and “request that legal steps be taken”.

On Thursday night, Tatar had been forced to deny that a meeting he had held with Turkish ambassador Ali Murat Basceri and the north’s ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel was called over the matter of hijabs. 

Previously, teachers had refused to let planned school exams go ahead, and at the same time refused to allow children wearing hijabs, and other religious garments including a chador – a full-body cloak which covers the body from head to toe – to enter schools.

A girl had also been sent to northern Nicosia’s Irsen Kucuk middle school wearing a hijab and being turned away. What ensued was a standoff between the girl’s parents and schoolteachers, with the teachers refusing to budge.