The Turkish government is urged to make a fundamental shift in its approach to education by Minority Rights Group International (MRG) in a new report. A long-standing focus on state-building has been supplemented by increasing emphasis on religious teaching. Both feature strongly in the education system in Turkey making schools a focus of discrimination. The report, Discrimination based on Colour, Ethnic Origin, Language, Religion and Belief in Turkey’s Education System, reveals evidence of discrimination of minority groups and suggests comprehensive reforms to effectively ensure equality. “The ‘national’ education system, which for decades aimed to create young Turkish nationalists, has in recent years become a vehicle for raising young religious Turkish nationalists,” says Nurcan Kaya, Turkey Coordinator of Minority Rights Group International. Religious education is compulsory from grade four in primary schools. While some information on world religions has been introduced, the emphasis remains on teaching Sunni Muslim religious practices. Children of Jewish and Christian families may apply to opt out, but the process can be cumbersome and in many schools alternatives are not provided for them. Non-Muslim students who have opted out can still find themselves having to remain in the religious instruction class or alternatively having to wander in the school corridor – making them vulnerable to taunts from pupils and even teachers. The opt out possibility is still not available to children of other minorities. Another issue is mother tongue education. In 2012, a new elective on the living languages and dialects in Turkey was introduced but due to various limitations, minorities remain marginalised “others” in the education system. Subsequent to the 2012 reform, the report monitors discrimination in the formal education system in the period of the academic year of 2014-2015. The findings are based on the field work of the Monitoring Discrimination in Education Network, an alliance of 16 organizations working in Turkey. The report compiles numerous cases of discrimination based on language, religion, ethnicity, skin colour and the level of income. “In order to bring about a fundamental solution to these problems in the education system, the government must prioritise developing an approach that sees all groups as equal and that responds to demands for rights based on such an understanding of equality,” says Kaya. The report highlights that Turkey has no anti-discrimination law or an equality commission to which victims of discrimination can apply. The existing legislation contains no effective and accessible means of judicial remedies or compensation. Therefore, many discriminatory practices are not reported to school administrations. “The entire education system is based on Turkishness. Non-Turkish groups are either not referred to or referred in a negative way,” says Kaya. “Education system has played a significant role in deepening conflict in society. The positive representation of other groups in the education system would contribute to social peace and harmony.” In order to resolve the many problems in the education system that the current approach causes, the overall aim of government education policy should be cleared of ideological references, and the protection of children’s best interests and the right to education in line with international standards should be considered its fundamental goal, says the report.

Turkey’s Kurdish question is a long-standing issue which gained special importance after the start of armed conflict between Kurdish insurgents and Turkish security forces. Despite multiple failed attempts to solve the Kurdish question, it remains the most significant issue in Turkey today. This book approaches Turkey’s Kurdish question for the first time from an educational perspective. It scrutinizes the relationship between the ideological Kemalist education and the challenges facing Kurdish pupils educated in Turkish public schools. Turkey’s Kurdish Question from an Educational Perspective represents a comprehensive examination of all major factors in education—teachers, curriculum, policy documents, educational attainments and textbooks—that might possibly affect Kurds. It sheds a critical spotlight on the educational side of the issue, offering a summary of existing challenges, ways to deal with these problems, and the proposal of long-term solutions to achieve permanent peace in the region.

This authoritative, state-of-the-art reference work builds on its first edition to provide a cutting-edge systematic review of the relationship between race/ethnicity and educational inequality. Studying 25 different national contexts drawn from every inhabited continent on earth and building upon material from the earlier edition, the work analyses educational policies, practices and research on minority students, immigrants and refugees. The editors and contributors explore principal research traditions from countries as diverse as Argentina, China, Norway and South Africa, examining the factors promoting social cohesion as well as considerations regarding the use of international test score data. Seamlessly integrating findings of national reviews, the editors and contributors analyse how national contexts of race/ethnic relations shape the character and content of educational inequalities, and deftly map out new directions for future research in the area. Global in its perspective and definitive in content, this one-stop volume will be an indispensable reference resource for a wide range of academics, students and researchers in the fields of education, sociology, race and ethnicity studies and social policy. Chapter 20 of this book is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at SpringerLink (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-94724-2_20)

This book presents a cross section of the work and concerns of social demographers worldwide, covering a broad range of topics from social structure through population structure to social policy; from fertility and mortality through migration to the way in which organisations deal with the demographic environment in which they operate. Topics addressed also include morbidity and health profiles and transitions, as well as policies and programs concerned with these and other issues. The volume touches on some of the major links between population and societal dynamics. It addresses demographic patterns and issues from micro-level, meso-level, and macro-level perspectives and helps put into focus the past, present and future of the mutual relations between population dynamics and societal responses. With a unique introductory chapter discussing the global unevenness of population growth today, its associations with inequality and the challenges it presents for the future, and a truly international approach to social and demographic change and policy responses, this book will serve as a valuable resource for professionals and students in sociology, demography, social policy and local governance.

The Jewish community in Turkey today is very diverse with extremely different views as to whether Jews are reluctant or enthusiastic about living in Turkey. Many see themselves primarily as Turks and only then as Jews, while some believe quite the opposite. Some deny there are any expressions of antisemitism in Turkey while others would call it xenophobia and would claim that the other non-Muslim communities in Turkey share the same antagonism. ‘Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism in Turkey’ provides a comprehensive history of the extent of antisemitism in Turkey, from the time of the Ottomans, through the establishing of the Turkish Republic, and up to recent times and the AK Party. It also provides an in-depth analysis of the effect of Israeli military operations on antisemitism, from the Second Lebanon War in 2006 to Operation Protective Edge in 2014. Much emphasis is given to the last decade, as scholars and local Jews assert that antisemitism has increased during this period. An illustrated overview of antisemitism in Turkish media, covering newspapers, books, entertainment, and education, is provided. The book also analyses Turkish society’s attitude towards Jews in contrast with other minorities, and examines how the other minorities see the Jews according to their experience with Turkish society and government. A unique poll, data collected from personal interviews and the use of both Turkish and Israeli research resources, all help to provide a fresh insight into antisemitism in Turkey. This book will therefore be a key resource for students and scholars of antisemitism and anti-zionism studies, Turkish Studies and Middle East Studies.

Europe has come a long way at least in the institutional response to racism. This book describes the responses of the Council of Europe and the European Union to the worrying trends of racism and xenophobia in the 1990s, and considers the prospects for combating discrimination in Europe using tools that have emerged as a result.

Indexes the Times and its supplements.