SCHOOL BOOKS ARE TURKISH, MUSLIM, MALE, HETEROSEXUAL AND RACIST
Bawer Cakir
BIA
english/113151/school-books-are-turkish-muslim-mal e-heterosexual-and-racist
March 16 2009
Turkey
The findings of the second project of monitoring Turkish school books
for human rights violations, run by the History Foundation and the
Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, have been published as a book.
"…The father is the person who makes the living for the family. The
mother is the father’s hepler, and she provides the food, child care
and love in the family."
This sentence from a high school Health Studies book, published by the
Ministry of Education, is cited in the book reporting on the findings
of a project looking at human rights violations in Turkish school
books. This is the second time that the History Foundation and the
Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TÄ°HV) have written such a report.
The book is entitled "Human Rights in School Books II" and emphasises
that human rights violations begin in school books.
In many school books the children are told the following:
The father is the head of the household and the provider, while the
woman is his hepler. Her duty is to look after the children, cook,
clean the home. The Turks are "superior to everyone else", they are
"male, strong, brave and fighters". AIDS is a disease which affects
promiscuous people and homosexuals.
The report draws attention to the fact that there are clear human
rights violations in many of the books.
Turkish, Muslim, heterosexual male identities are glorified at the
expense of other identities and nationalities. Concepts concerning
basic human rights are presented in a misleading manner or manipulated.
Examples of entries in textbooks are:
Superiority of Islam and Turks
"Islam is the religion which attaches most importance to
cleanliness." (Z. Sert (2007) Lise Health Studies, p. 11, Ankara:
Ministry of Education Pulications).
By emphasising that Islam is the cleanest religion, other religions
are presented as inferior. Thus, religious discrimination is practised
"We are Turkish, we are superior to everyone else." (M. UlusavaÅ~_
(2007), Middle School Traffic and First Aid, p. 47. Ankara: Ministry
of Education Publications).
By representing the Turkish nation as superior, other nations are
discriminated against.
"The groups most at risk of contracting AIDS are: people having
unsafe sexual relations, people with more than one sexual partner,
homosexuals, drug users, those dependent on blood products and health
personnel." (E.A. Kolukısa (2006) Primary School Social Studies 6,
p. 147, Ankara: A Publications).
This sentence encourages prejudices towards both people who are not
heterosexual and those who cannot live with one partner.
Non-Muslims degraded or made invisible "Sink it in the Black Sea and
let the anchovies eat it, but…is there any use for anchovies fed
on gavur (derogatory term for non-Muslims) meat?" (N. Ozdemir (2007)
Primary School Music 6-7-8, Teacher’s Guide Book, p. 148, Istanbul:
Ministry of Education Publications).
This sentence contains a hurtful expression targetting non-Muslims
and is also degrading.
Related to this issue is the choice of names that the characters in
school books have. They are always Muslim and Turkish names, such as
Omer, Zeynep, Mustafa, Mehmet, Meral, Sema…In vain does one look
for Armenian, Kurdish or Jewish names, such as Agop, Zilan, Baran,
MoÅ~_e, Roni or Nayat.
Pupils warned of "threats"
"Countries in the region and developed countries with an interest in
the region are uncomfortable with the fact that Turkey is becoming
stronger…Turkey’s geopolitical characteristics make it a target
for more internal and foreign threats. Turkey is facing and will
always be facing internal and external threats." (N. Yavuz (2007)
Primary School Turkish Republic History of Revolution and Kemalism 8,
p. 170, Istanbul: Prizma Publications).
This is a quote which exemplifies the constant emphasis on Turkey
having enemies. Far from instilling values of peace, the book "warns"
students of the threat of "external powers".
"No nation has shown as much respect to the beliefs and traditions
of foreign elements as our nation. One can even say that it is our
nation which is respectful to the religion and nation of members of
other religions." (E. Genc (2006) Primary School Social Sciences 6,
p. 105, Ankara: Ministry of Education Publications).
Only moral if religious "For no one; we are Allah’s subjects…our
hearts are full of belief, our strong arms…."(A. Kapulu (2007)
Primary School Turkish 4, p. 29, Ankara: Koza Publications).
According to the report of the History Foundation, religious beliefs
are presented as positive suggestions in school books. Traditions
are shown as incompatible with a critical mind. When religion is
described as a "culture", morality is reduced to religiosity.
"Negative processes such as psychological depression, moral ruin, a
loss of common values, damage to social and cultural fabric, alienation
from national and moral feelings are all signs of beliefs that are not
based on divine inspiration." (A. EkÅ~_i (2007) Religious Culture and
Ethical Studies 9, p. 16, Ankara: Ministry of Education Publications).
Women: Mother, Wife, Spender, Cook and Cleaner…
Many of the textbooks are a product of the male-dominated mentality
which aims at reproducing certain gender roles. While men are fathers,
breadwinners, providers, economcial, strong and clever, women are
spendthrifts, cleaners, cooks, emotional and powerless mothers.
"My mother bought a blanket from a door-to-door salesperson. But when
my father came home in the evening, he said that the blanket could
not be paid with this month’s budget, and said we would have to give
it back." (E. A. Kolukısa (2007) Primary School Social Studies 6,
p. 22, Ankara: A Publications).
This sentence shows a woman who cannot make decisions, as well as a
male-dominated family.
"Burak invited his friends home. His mother baked apple cake for the
visitors" (A. Duatepe (2007) Primary School Mathematics 5, p. 161,
Istanbul: Koza Publications).
Critical thinking discouraged The report further emphasises that school
books make it impossible for children to develop critical thoughts.
There are frequent expressions that show that Turkish culture cannot
be criticised. When the books speak of the qualities that children
should acquire, the authority referred to is Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
rather than science.
"Ataturk’s characteristics of loving his fatherland and nation will be
discussed." (A. Ozdemir (2006) Primary School Life Studies, Teachers’
Guide Book, p. 43, Istanbul: Ministry of Education Publications).
"Patriotism" is presented as a quality that students are supposed
to learn.
"Throughout history, the name of the Turks was used together with
the word ‘soldier’. This is why the sentence ‘Every Turk is born
a soldier’ has become a set phrase among our people and other
nations." (E.A. Kolukısa (2007) Primary School Social Studies 6,
p. 22, Ankara: A Publications).
The project started in August 2007. 139 primary and middle school
books, which had been revised in the last years to reflect changes
in the curriculum, were examined for human rights violations. (BC/AG)