Fired teacher tells story of Turkish purge onstage
A teacher who was dismissed from her job in the aftermath of the coup attempt is using drama to give a voice to Turkey's 150,000 civil servants in similar situations.
Duygu Sahlar loved her job as a public kindergarten teacher — until the morning she found she'd been removed from duty overnight, with no explanation.
Sahlar fell victim to the mass dismissal of government employees, particularly those in the education sector, in the aftermath of the failed coup in July 2016. Some 150,000 civil servants, including more than 40,000 teachers, have been removed from their positions by legislative decrees under the country’s emergency rule, allegedly to fight terrorism and to remove the supporters of what the ruling party calls the Fethullah Gulen Terror Organization.
