District education office instructs teachers to escort minister's wife to concert

A district office of the Mersin Provincial Education Directorate has sent a letter to schools within its scope of authority asking them to appoint two teachers each to escort Education Minister Ziya Selçuk's wife Rana Selçuk to a concert. A deputy from the opposition İYİ Party condemned the letter, saying teachers' “job definition” does not include them welcoming and escorting a minister's wife.

Duvar English

A district office of the Mersin Provincial Education Directorate has asked schools within its scope of authority to appoint two teachers each to escort the wife of Education Minister Ziya Selçuk, Rana Selçuk, to a concert.

The letter sent by the Yenişehir District Education Directorate said that Rana Selçuk would be attending the concert of Aylin Şengün Taşçı in the district on Jan. 8.

A deputy from the opposition İYİ (Good) Party said that teachers' “job definition” does not include them welcoming and escorting a minister's wife. “I condemn this understanding of buterring up a minister's wife, of winning the minister's favor,” said MP İsmail Koncuk, who is himself a former teacher that served the Education Ministry for 37 years.

“There is no such thing in developed countries. Turkey is not a country run by kingship, where king assistants, wives are welcomed; it is a country which allegedly runs with democracy. Teachers might be asked to participate in meetings conducted by the minister himself provided that they are about education, but who has ever seen the appointment of teachers to a music/entertainment program attended by the minister's wife?”

Koncuk said that the the district directorate could not have sent such a letter without the knowledge of the provincial directorate. “Everyone, especially Minister Selçuk, needs to see that the Turkish education system cannot go anywhere with such staff,” he said.

Koncuk also said that Minister Selçuk might not have been informed about the existence of such an instruction to the teachers. “In this country, there are people who are more royalist than the king. We hereby warn the minister to admonish them,” he said.