This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 001395 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KISL SOCI TU
SUBJECT: SLIPPERY SLOPE TO SHARI'A?: ISTANBUL DEBATES AKP 
EDUCATION REFORMS 
 
¶1. (sbu) Summary: Ask anyone in Istanbul what's wrong with 
the Turkish education system and you are likely to get the 
same answer: overcrowded, under-funded schools tied up in 
bureaucratic red tape.  Fixing the problem, however, has been 
the subject of considerable acrimonious political debate. 
Critics charge that the last several governments have all 
"used" education reform in attempts to solidify and expand 
their support base, and that AK is similarly using the issue 
as a back-door to achieving a secret aim to Islamicize Turkey 
and Turkish society.  Those defending AK's proposals for 
higher education reform and some of its plans for education 
as a whole say they would go a long way towards addressing 
inherent injustices and much-needed reforms and might also 
address a widespread desire for a more conservative and 
religious environment in Istanbul's schools.  End Summary. 
 
 
¶2. (sbu) As schools across the city reopen after summer 
recess, Istanbul residents are unhappy and worried that their 
children are not getting an adequate education.  One taxi 
driver remarked that there is education "for the rich, but 
not the poor" (i.e., the rich send their kids to private 
schools), while a lower-class mother of three said that the 
system offers "zilch."  With 65 students per primary school 
classroom in Istanbul (after the school day has already been 
divided into separate morning and afternoon sessions), it is 
clear there is a chronic shortage of rooms and teachers. 
Only 10 percent of the students who take the national 
university entrance exams are able to secure places in 
Turkish universities (both private and public).  Once at 
university, both students and professors chafe under the 
centralized restrictions and controls that have been in place 
since the 1980 coup put an end to widespread student riots 
and infighting. 
 
 
Higher Education Council (YOK) and University Reforms 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
¶3. (sbu) AK higher education reform proposals aimed at 
reducing the authority and autonomy of the much-hated Higher 
Education Council (YOK) have provoked a vigorous debate. 
Critics we have talked to (including professionals, 
educators, and the YOK Chairman) claim that rhetoric about 
"democracy" and "efficiency" merely cloak a hidden Islamic 
agenda.  Specifically, they claim that decentralizing 
education, by allowing professors to elect their own 
administrators and rectors, for example, will "hand over 
control" of the universities (beginning with Erzurum and 
Marmara Universities) to the "Islamists."  One university 
administrator lamented that the AK party had actually "forced 
him to defend YOK."  The vice chairman of the Istanbul 
Association of University Professors defended the proposals, 
however, noting that while imperfect, they had incorporated 
many of the association's suggestions. 
 
 
Imam-Hatip (Preacher) Schools and Religious Education 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
¶4. (sbu) As "proof" of the government's secret Islamist 
agenda, critics charge that AK wants to boost attendance in 
the country's state-run imam-hatip (preacher) schools (of 
which there are 26 in Istanbul, including the one Prime 
Minister Erdogan attended), despite the fact that the number 
of graduates far exceeds the need for imams.  By amending a 
point system for the national university entrance exam that 
currently disadvantages graduates of vocational schools (only 
8 percent of which are imam-hatip schools), AK would 
roll-back what was a thinly-veiled and highly successful 
effort initiated in 1997 to discourage families from sending 
their children to imam-hatip schools.  (Note: Imam-hatip 
enrollment appears to have jumped by 80 percent this year in 
Istanbul, at least in part on the expectation that the new 
government would carry out its promises in this regard.  End 
Note.)  Suspicious of anyone who sends their children to such 
schools, critics worry that increasing numbers of religiously 
conservative graduates (note: in addition to the normal 
curriculum, imam-hatip students spend half of their class 
time in religion courses) will go on to university and 
eventually "infiltrate" the state bureaucracy.  The head of 
an Istanbul imam-hatip graduate association simply pointed to 
the injustice of a system ("affecting all vocational schools, 
not just imam-hatips") in which an imam-hatip student this 
year received a perfect raw score on one of the national 
exams and did not have enough "points" to get into any of the 
university departments he had selected.  The administrator of 
an Istanbul imam-hatip school noted that the point system 
isn't even "legal" according to existing laws.  He also 
defended the decision of parents to choose such schools, not 
so their children will become imams, but so they can learn 
about religion in a more "morally conservative" environment. 
 
 
School Vouchers and Free Textbooks 
---------------------------------- 
¶5. (sbu) Another plan to send 10,000 poor students to private 
high schools with government vouchers was already vetoed by 
President Sezer on August 14 on the grounds that many of the 
private schools selected for the program had been 
"established by people for other reasons" (i.e., Islamist). 
(Note: Many of the schools were reportedly established by 
Fethullah Gulen and other tarikats or brotherhoods).  Sezer's 
decision was welcomed by many government critics who argued 
that the vouchers would merely transfer government funds to 
tarikat-run schools and educate future generations to be 
prejudiced against secularism.  Yet another project that has 
yet to be finalized is a government promise to provide free 
textbooks to students.  An Istanbul-based NGO education 
expert labeled this a "blatant hand-out" that the government 
would almost certainly try to roll out shortly before next 
year's local elections.  A teachers' union representative 
stopped short of accusing the government of seeking to 
"rewrite" history, but speculated that the government would 
almost certainly choose books that are more in line with 
their political views and wondered aloud which government 
crony would be awarded the publishing contract.  The fact 
that photos and "messages" of the PM and Education Minister 
were included in some of the recently-distributed books has 
already been labeled by critics as inappropriate propaganda. 
 
 
Comment 
------- 
¶6. (sbu) While almost all Istanbul residents agree on the 
need for education reform, at least a substantial minority, 
particularly among the secular elite, do not trust the AK 
government to guide the process.  There is no clear answer on 
whether AK's reforms are intended to "islamicize" Turkey, but 
they do at least represent an effort to address some of the 
education system's shortcomings.  The elements of the 
discussion that draw the most direct fire (the voucher plan 
and grumblings about the headscarf ban) still seem to command 
a good deal of support among the general public in Istanbul. 
 
 
ARNETT