The Ministry’s New Mission: Exposing Reporters

The Ministry of National Education (MEB) dispatched not information but threats to Cumhuriyet newspaper, which reported that according to statistics, the number of theological imam-hatip middle school and imam-hatip high school students has risen to 932,273.

MEB Media and Public Relations Consultancy, in the declaration they sent to all press organizations claimed the newspaper was leading a “smear campaign”.

The statement read: “Our ministry will continue to make public, reserving our legal rights, the media organs and reporters leading smear campaigns.”

The Ministry, writing about the Sinan Tartanoğlu’s news piece “Bilal’s [President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son Bilal Erdoğan] Goal Reached in One Year” based on official formal education statistics and featured in the newspaper dated 12 April 2015, wrote: “it is a product of the smear and disinformation campaign this newspaper and its reporter have been leading against the Ministry of National Education for a long time.”

The piece reported that the total number of theological imam-hatip middle school and imam-hatip high school students had risen to 932,273, and that the 2015-2019 Outline Strategic Plan had also featured the goal of raising the number of imam-hatip students to 1 million. The piece also referenced the words of Bilal Erdoğan in a meeting where national education directors were also present: “Soon there will be 1 million students in imam-hatip schools.”

The newspaper’s attempts to contact Minister of National Education Nabi Avcı upon this statement were left unanswered (EÖ/PU).

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