TRNC president demands legal action against teachers who protested against students wearing hijab to school in northern Cyprus

President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Ersin Tatar on Monday night demanded that legal action be taken against teachers who “disturbed our peace” while protesting against the legalisation of the wearing of hijabs in schools in north Cyprus.

He announced that he would meet with Turkish Cypriot police chief Kasim Kuni and chief public prosecutor Sarper Altincik and “request that legal steps be taken” in light of the protests.

“The spread of divisive and radical discourse within society not only disrupts peace but also brings with it legal processes. Such statements have become elements which need to be investigated by the chief public prosecutor’s office and the police,” he said.

“We will not allow anyone to disturb our peace. The state will do what is necessary, no one should have any doubt about this,” he said.

Tatar’s demand for legal action comes after teachers had staged a protest outside the Turkish embassy in Lefkosa last Tuesday, with trade unions pointing their fingers at the Turkish embassy as what they believed to be the source of the amendment which briefly legalised the wearing of hijabs in schools in north Cyprus.

The ruling coalition had withdrawn the amendment on Tuesday morning, but teachers were nonetheless keen to show their displeasure at the amendment and their view that the embassy had played a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, Cyprus Turkish secondary education teachers’ trade union (Ktoeos) leader Selma Eylem called on ambassador Ali Murat Basceri to “go home”, with footage of her speech now having gone viral in Turkey.

She had said Basceri “is continuing this imposition of political Islam”, and that there was no room for compromise over the matter.

The TRNC’s ‘government’ 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.

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.

The crisis then continued on Thursday, with a girl being sent to Irsen Kucuk middle school in Lefkosa wearing a hijab and being turned away. What ensued was a standoff between the girl’s parents and schoolteachers, with ‘education ministry’ undersecretary Yusuf Inaniroglu then arriving on the scene to mediate.

Opposition-supporting media outlets including Yeniduzen and Bugun Kibris reported that Inaniroglu attempted to “pressure” the school into allowing the hijab-wearing child to enter, with photographs emerging of a heated exchange inside headmistress Gulden Ogcum’s office.

Ogcum then fainted and was treated by paramedics, but backup was offered by teachers from other schools who travelled to the Irsen Kucuk middle school to ensure that the child would not enter while wearing a hijab.

Headmistress Gulden Ogcum faints as discussions continue surrounding the wearing of hijabs in schools

Ibrahim Damar, the imam of the mosque in Hamitkoy, then weighed in on the matter, describing teachers as “infidels” and saying he would refuse to lead a funeral service for “anyone who opposes headscarves”.

“I am saying it clearly; those who oppose the headscarf are infidels. The funeral prayer of an infidel cannot be performed,” he said.

‘Education minister’ Nazim Cavusoglu then said the ‘government’ would have another look at the issue after Eid al-Fitr, which began on Sunday, but not before Cyprus Turkish teachers’ trade union (Ktos) leader Burak Mavis said that both he and Inaniroglu should resign and be tried for breaching the peace as a result of their actions.

Cyprus Mail