Hilmi Tuzcu, the principal of an imam hatip religion school in Tarsus, demanded women and men not to sit next to each other at the conference entitled ‘importance of effective communication and family in education’ and organised by the local directorate of national education.
It was stated that the school principal said ‘women and men sitting next to each other poses problems’ and it the teachers participating the conference were asked to sit apart.
The president of the local branch of Eğitim-İş, a union of left-wing secular teachers, stated that the school principal left the conference following the reactions of several teachers. The president of the union narrates that the principal had said ‘There is no need to get mad, I have just requested it.’
The president of the union stated ‘We vehemently condemn this act, which is nothing but self-revelation of the medieval reactionary mentality.’
