Historical Perspectives on Religious Education

The Atatürk era, the İsmet Paşa era.

These show the state's attitude toward religion very clearly.

There is no need for any further comment. And these,

uh, are reports sent to the president.

Think about it.

Yes.

They're dealing with these matters. That a religious teacher was giving religious lessons

as a means of conducting secret instruction was brought to the province's attention,

after an eight-month investigation… They investigated for eight months.

He was making village children read religious lessons…

Uh-huh.

It was proposed. From Yürükselim Neighborhood in Maraş,

it was reported that a woman named Hatice was teaching children using Arabic

letters in her home, and she was caught red-handed making five children read books in Arabic letters,

and was handed over to the courthouse with the evidence. What they call Arabic is the Quran.

Let me say it again.

I don't know, but I'm someone who has read the Holy Quran. I mean, I didn't understand.

Now you can read, be grateful. You couldn't read before.

In our time, reading the Quran was forbidden.

I went through four teachers. The gendarmes raided every teacher, too.

They raided them. Young people like you think Islamic

life was always like this. No, we studied in a time when even saying “Allah”

was forbidden, and came of age.

You need to know those days, too, to learn a lesson.