Turkey's Education Minister says discriminatory illustrations were a 'mistake'

An investigation will be conducted regarding drawings in Education Ministry pamphlets that villianize women who don't wear headscarves, Turkey's Education Minister Ziya Selçuk said. Drawings in the ministry pamphlets portrayed women with headscarves in loving and caring positions while women without headscarves are depicted bothering kids.

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An investigation has been opened regarding illustrations in Education Ministry pamphlets that villainized women who weren't wearing headscarves, Turkey's Education Minister Ziya Selçuk said.

Education ministry pamphlets 'antagonize women with no headscarves'Education ministry pamphlets 'antagonize women with no headscarves'

"There's clearly been a mistake. People who know me would know that I wouldn't approve this," Selçuk said Jan. 3.

Created to equip teachers in helping students after they experience some kind of trauma, the pamphlets portrayed women with headscarves in loving and caring positions while women who don't wear headscarves are depicted bothering kids.

The book portrayed a woman with no headscarf as a neighbor who walked up to a young girl and tried to embrace her at the cost of her distress; meanwhile, a doctor wearing a hijab was the protagonist in a story about sexual abuse.