Istanbul: Victor Hugo censored instead of recommended?
A reading list for students at a religious school in Istanbul which reportedly recommended authors such as Victor Hugo and Martin Heidegger is causing a stir. Conservative social media groups expressed outrage about the list, calling it a scandal. The Istanbul Governor's Office launched an official investigation and suspended the headteacher, who claims his signature was forged.
A country should not fear bright children
Sözcü criticises the crackdown on the reading list:
“The West lets its children read our authors to broaden their horizons while we try to shield our own children from Victor Hugo. ... It's one thing for a book to be difficult to access, but it's quite another for it to be declared harmful. Moreover, the director of the National Intelligence Organization, İbrahim Kalın, wrote a book on Heidegger. When someone in the highest echelons of government writes about Heidegger, it's regarded as philosophical depth, so why do alarm bells ring when Heidegger's name appears on a school reading list? ... We want a Turkey that isn't afraid of its own children's intellect and that encourages them to read books rather than banning them.”
Trollocracy taking over the state
T24 highlights a dangerous trend:
“Imagine a country where the head of the domestic intelligence service, the MIT – which is doing an exceptionally good job in this region given the current global situation – has Heidegger's famous cabin opened up especially for him to pay a visit, spends a day there with his [Heidegger's] grandson, and then turns the experience into a book. ... The book receives glowing reviews. ... But then a headteacher at an Imam Hatip school is officially sacked for recommending a reading list that includes that very same Heidegger book. Who made this decision? The director of education or the troll gang? ... There have been no more than three to five hundred reactions on X. This is the new decision-making elite of the 'trollocracy'.”