Boycott Call After Death of Rebuked Teacher Halil Serkan Öz

Education and Science Workers' Union (Eğitim-Sen) have called teachers to boycott their first class today to stay in solidarity with Halil Serkan Öz (42), a math teacher who died of heart attack on Saturday during a march dedicated to him after being rebuked by city governor due to his dress code.  

The chain of events leading to the boycott broke out on Friday when Yalova Province Governor Selim Cebiroğlu inspected the class of Öz and rebuked him before his students due to his dress and unshaved beard. The governor allegedly dismissed him out of the classroom. 

A march was organized on Saturday dedicated to Öz under the slogan “Respect to Teachers”. While teacher Öz attended the protest, he had a stroke and died in hospital. Around 3,000 people including Öz’s colleagues and students attended his funeral in Yalova district on Sunday. 

The death news of Öz stirred outrage amid local resident and social media users, leading to a campaign on change.org for the resignation of Governor  Selim Cebiroğlu. As of 12pm local time today, 34,562 signatures were collected.

“We are not calling anyone to mourn for our friend Halil Serkan Öz. We are calling everyone to struggle for our pride, rights and hard work,” Eğitim-Sen said in statement to call teacher for today’s boycott. 

“As Yalova residents, we are deeply grieving over the death of our maths teacher Halil Serkan Öz,” Yolova Province Governor’s Office wrote in a statement. 

On other hand, Eğitim-Sen also informed that Halil Serkan Öz’s cause of death was a stroke due to stress. The association also added that Öz had been transferred to a hospital in the neighbor Bursa province due to lack of angiography equipment. (BM)

* This article has been compiled from the content in bianet Turkish.