Turkey’s highest administrative court, the Council of State, announced Oct. 18 that the student oath will be reinstated at all primary schools. The student oath has been a controversial issue in Turkish politics for decades. In 1933, Minister of Education Resit Galip introduced the oath, which starts by declaring “I am a Turk” and ends with the statement “How proud is the one who can say ‘I am a Turk!’”
In September 2013, right after the Gezi protests and as part of the democratization package, Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the “nationalist” oath would be removed. At the time, Erdogan said, “Lining up kids every morning and making them chant slogans from the 1930s, the Cold War and the era of the Iron Curtain is not nationalism.”
The announcement to reinstate the student oath rekindled the existing lines of division between Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its unofficial ally the ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves — the youth branch of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Interestingly, it was revealed that the court’s decision to reinstate the oath was made in April, but it was not conveyed to the government until Oct. 10. Al-Monitor asked prominent politicians in Ankara, and all concurred that they believed Erdogan knew the decision and delayed its announcement till now. Speaking at the court’s annual assembly on Oct. 24, Erdogan lambasted them about their decision. He emphasized the time lapse — five years — and angrily asked, “You thought about it now?”
Erdogan warned against the dangers of juristocracy — the judiciary overstepping its limits — saying, “Then let the judiciary to take over the executive branch as well.” He reiterated multiple times that the judiciary isn’t the place to make a decision, but it should act as a consultative institution. He said, “If the judiciary is convinced it is the decision-making body, then why I am standing here. Especially if before preparing the presidency executive orders, we are required to seek permission from the court, then I should not stay in this position. I should pack and leave.”
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