Do you aim to hamper the raising of a generation that is religious?” Finally, at a Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Expanded Provincial Chairmen meeting, Erdoğan stood by his words, saying, “We aim to raise a conservative, democratic generation.”
“These words did not befit Erdoğan at all,” says Bugün’s Gülay Göktürk. “You can be a religious man as much as you want, and your party can be conservative as well. But this does not give you the right to convert this society into a religious one, or the opposite. I don’t know how many more examples we need to see in order to realize that whatever confusion Turkey has gone through up until now was caused by this view of social engineering.” Göktürk indicates there is a contradiction saying that while the government is being applauded for its efforts to remove traces of ideology in the educational system, it is surprising to hear such a comment from the prime minister. Göktürk explains this situation in terms of the notion of “good.” “Previous governments were in favor of militarism, nationalism, as they regarded these ideologies to be good for the people. Of course, the government is the main authority to decide what is good for the people, but the government should maintain this by not adopting a certain ideology,” she notes.
Oral Çalışlar of the Radikal daily is of the same opinion as Göktürk, saying that although Erdoğan might not have intended such a thing, he gave the impression with his statements at the meeting that he plans to launch a social engineering project by indoctrinating a certain idea of “good.” Çalışlar notes that a democratic country can have a religious leader and that leader can put forward his religious identity. But he ought not forget that he represents every part of society, including atheists. Çalışlar then relays a story: Two cow herders were once on a mountain alone with their herd. Suddenly it started to rain, and one of the cow herders, who had a thick cloak, offered to share his cloak with his friend. Because of this, both of the cow herders pulled through the rain without getting wet. Then, while they were on their way home, the cow herder with the cloak turned to the other several times and said, “You would have been soaked if I hadn’t had a cloak.” And each time, the cow herder without the cloak got more and more annoyed. Running out of patience, the cow herder at last jumped into a river they were passing and said to the other, “I could not have gotten more soaked than this.” Çalışlar says this resembles the situation with the AK Party. Whenever it encounters criticism, it mentions its achievements and the investigations into the coup plans, but one feels like throwing himself into a river and saying, “It could not be worse than this.”
Yeni Şafak’s Özlem Albayrak, on the other hand, argues Erdoğan has once again been misunderstood by many people, as he did not imply a plan to convert society into a religious one but only shared his personal wish. “It should not go unconsidered that Erdoğan’s speech was specifically about imam-hatip schools, and with those statements, he meant he wants to preserve the imam-hatip schools in our society, and nothing more.”
