With more Islamic schooling, Erdogan aims to reshape Turkey
On a hill overlooking Istanbul is a religious school where, 50 years ago, a boy from a working class district attended classes in Islam. The boy was Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s future president. The school was one of the first Imam Hatip schools, founded by the state to educate young men to be imams and preachers.
At the start of the 2017-2018 academic year in September, Erdogan returned to his old school, now renamed the Recep Tayyip Erdogan Anatolian Imam Hatip upper school after an $11 million redevelopment. He recalled the “tough days” of his childhood and the spirit in the school that drove its students to success.
“The joint goal of all education and our teaching system is to bring up good people with respect for their history, culture and values,” Erdogan told flag-waving children at a ceremony to mark the reopening of the school....