100 students complain to authorities of sexual abuse by principal

Due to the claims regarding the sexual abuse of male students at a high school in Ankara, the principal has been dismissed after nearly 100 students’ application for complaint
Tuesday, 14 February 2017 08:30

Around 100 high school students in the Haymana district of Ankara applied to the authorities with complaints that they have been sexually abused by the principal of their school, daily Birgün reported on Feb. 12. Due to the claims regarding the sexual abuse of male students, the high school principal has been dismissed. No criminal investigation has been launched for the dismissed high school principal.

The school principal, who was appointed to Ankara Haymana Nuri Bektaş Anatolian High School in 2014, was indicted on charges of sexual abuse of male students at school accommodation. The principal, identified only by the initials S.K., had a private residence in the lodge of the school where he is accused of committing the abuse.   

An investigation regarding the issue was launched after the applications for complaints of some students and students’ parents to the Prime Ministry Communication Bureau (BİMER). After the complaints, an executive probe was started against S.K. by Education Ministry inspectors and a delegation arrived in Haymana to investigate the allegations. The Ministry appealed to many male teachers of the high school by calling them on holiday. The inspectors assigned by the Ministry still continue to investigate by taking the testimonies of the students staying at the student accommodations.

On February 9, the fourth day of the investigation, S.K. was suspended from his duty, though no legal investigation has been opened into him yet. 

Some teachers told Birgün that they had heard some rumours for a long time about this issue, but they could not do anything due to the lack of concrete evidence and the fear from the District Directorate of National Education and school authorities.
On the other hand, some students who declined to be named said "We could not even know to which teacher we could ask for help, which teacher we could trust. As a last resort, BİMER was what came to our mind."