TURKEY: YOK LIFTS YOKE ON RELIGIOUS SCHOOL GRADS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 001104 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR EUR/SE E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/30/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL TU SUBJECT: TURKEY: YOK LIFTS YOKE ON RELIGIOUS SCHOOL GRADS REF: ANKARA 1015 Classified By: Acting DCM Daniel O'Grady for reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. A recent decision by Turkey's Higher Education Council (YOK) has ended a decade-old official policy that made it much harder for religious school graduates to compete for regular University admissions. The decision has accentuated the current schism in Turkish society between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its secularist critics. The 1997 policy actually mandated that graduates of all vocational schools, not just religious (Imam-Hatip) schools, have their university admission scores calculated at a reduced rate if they chose fields outside their secondary school major. But the policy has always been viewed as a deliberate means to discourage Islamists from gaining university admission. AKP has long argued that the policy unfairly discriminates against Imam-Hatip graduates, and Prime Minister Erdogan has called for eliminating the coefficient as one of his campaign promises. Supporters of YOK's decision called it a victory for ending discrimination. Opposition parties and others, however, have criticized AKP for stacking YOK since 2007 and view the decision as a political move to get more religious students into traditional university programs -- which they see as part of a larger Islamist agenda they fear is already far advanced. The Istanbul Bar Association has appealed the YOK decision to the Council of State (Danistay). Even if the new policy remains in place, its actual impact is likely to be far less than the symbolism, as one influential columnist told us, of "how the establishment in Turkey has changed." END SUMMARY. -------------- The Politics of a Coefficient -------------- ¶2. (SBU) On July 21 the Higher Education Council (YOK) abolished the practice of modifying university-bound students' GPAs with a coefficient that gives preferential treatment to those continuing from their high school major into a similar university program. Since YOK decisions are administrative, the Education Ministry does not need to ratify it. However, YOK decisions can be voided by the Council of State (Danistay),and on July 29 the Istanbul Bar Association lodged an appeal with the Danistay on the grounds that the YOK decision would force graduates from traditional high schools to face unfair competition. Unless the Danistay agrees with this argument, however, next year's university applicants will be assessed under the new rules. ¶3. (SBU) Many saw the coefficient -- imposed by the Turkish military soon after its February 1997 dismantling of the Islamic-rooted government of then-PM Erbakan -- as a means to keep graduates of religious Imam-Hatip schools from entering traditional university programs. Prime Minister Erdogan, himself an Imam-Hatip graduate, said the new system now aims to secure equality of opportunity. Critics of the YOK decision labeled it a political move intended to push pious students into higher education at the expense of more deserving students with a traditional education. ¶4. (C) Yuksel Ozden, the AKP's lead deputy on education issues, told us the Imam-Hatip issue is only a cover for the real issue -- denying social mobility. By stoking fears that religious extremists could entering universities, he said, supporters of the coefficients were able to deny thousands of students from lower class families from getting their rightful education. The vast majority of students harmed by the coefficients are from true vocational and technical high schools, not the Imam-Hatip schools, Ozden said. These students are primarily from lower classes families, while nearly all upper class parents place their children into traditional high schools. Under the old system, excellent students from these technical schools had little chance to get into traditional university programs. ¶5. (SBU) Fifteen of the 20 current YOK members have been appointed since President Gul was elected in 2007. AKP's domination over the council has become clear. For the coefficient issue, the dissenting members were all appointees from the President Sezer era. Bulent Serim, a YOK member and ANKARA 00001104 002 OF 003 Sezer-era appointee, resigned from the council before the vote to protest the impending measure. -------------- Admission to a Turkish University -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Turkey's centralized and rigid education system uses two measures to assess University acceptance: grade point average (GPA) and performance on the national Student Selection Examination (OSS). Under the old system, those applying for a university program that is a continuation of their high school major would have their GPAs multiplied by a high coefficient of .8, while all other students' GPAs were multiplied by .3. The July 21 YOK decision created a single coefficient of .15 to multiply all student's GPA. The decision not only removed the preferential coefficient, but also lowered the importance of a student's GPA. (NOTE: YOK, however, did not remove all preferential coefficients. YOK kept an existing measure that gave graduates from vocational and technical schools a small .06 coefficient bonus added to their GPA if they continue with their previous course of study. END NOTE). ¶7. (SBU) Despite the uproar regarding YOK's decision, the 195-minute national OSS test is still the main determinant for entrance into higher education. Under the old system, the OSS accounted for 80-90 percent of a student's score for determining university admission. Under the new system, the OSS will total for over 95 percent of a student's university admission score. The two part exam has a standardized section that all students must complete and specific sections related to the student's intended university major. On June 14, 2009, about 1,340,000 students took the OSS, of which only about one-third will be granted university admission. ¶8. (C) Although strongly supportive of the YOK decision, Ozden told us he was troubled by the importance of the OSS for deciding the fate of prospective university students. Many good students may not do well on a single standardized test, he noted. Also, the proliferation of private education centers (Dershanes) provides another source of inequity to the process. Dershane primarily train students on how to take the OSS. Ozden acknowledges that dershanes give their students, most of whom are from more affluent families, an unfair advantage in the OSS. -------------- Imam-Hatip Education 101 -------------- ¶9. (SBU) At the center of this controversy are the religious Imam-Hatip high schools. Originally intended to train ministers (imams) and preachers (hatips),these schools have become the choice of parents who want their children to have a more religious education. Despite lacking the prospects of becoming either an imam or haitp, female students were granted admittance in 1976 (NOTE: Many girls enter Imam-Hatip schools to bypass the ban on wearing headscarves in school. Only theology programs in Turkey allow students to wear a headscarf. END NOTE). After the 1980 military coup, graduates of Imam-Hatip schools gained the right to enter all university departments. ¶10. (SBU) Up until the late 1990s, enrollment soared in Imam-Hatip high schools, reaching a high of 190,000 students in 1998-1999. Two changes, however, reversed this trend. In 1997, the state increased the duration of compulsory education from five to eight years. This seemed to encourage students to remain in traditional education paths. The most important factor, however, was clearly the introduction of the coefficient, which made it much more difficult for high school students to enroll in university programs outside their major. This put Imam-Hatip graduates, as well as vocational and technical school graduates, at a disadvantage when competing for university enrollment slots. ¶11. (SBU) A study by the think-tank Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) found that far fewer Imam-Hatip graduates entered law, political science, and teaching disciplines after the coefficients were applied. Within a few years after the implementation of the ANKARA 00001104 003 OF 003 coefficients, enrollments at Imam-Hatip high schools fell sharply, dropping to a low of around 65,000 in 2002. Since then, numbers have crept back up to roughly 140,000 in 2008-2009, with girls comprising more than half of the students. Even at this elevated number, Imam-Hatip students account for only about four percent of all secondary education students, and less than ten percent of all vocational and technical students. ¶12. (C) In a July 27 discussion with the Ambassador, Diyanet President Bardakoglu described the coefficient issue as a "difficult" one. On the one hand, he said, in terms of individual rights and freedoms, it is impossible to defend the application of a different coefficient for Imam-Hatip graduates. They take the same exam but they are graded "as if they failed to answer 15 questions." Still, Bardakoglu lamented that ending the coefficient would cause the demand for post-high school theological studies to decline. Students would opt for more attractive departments. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶13. (C) Influential columnist Murat Yetkin told us that the YOK decision was yet another demonstration of "how the establishment in Turkey has changed." Certainly core AKP supporters view this fundamental change in the education system as a significant victory. They welcome PM Erdogan's proven ability to keep his campaign promise to members of his religious base, a segment Erdogan now fears is being eroded by the hardline Islamic party Saadet. The AKP is also framing this issue around equal opportunity, a move that might give them traction with lower-class families who send their children to general vocational schools. Turkey's secularists, however, find much cause for discomfort. The YOK decision seems to confirm their suspicions that AKP is determined to strengthen the Islamic underpinnings of Turkish society, and that the pursuit of this agenda is much farther along than they had realized. The actual impact of the coefficient amendment -- if allowed to stand by the Danistay -- is likely to be minimal. The main element of University admission will continue to be the grueling admission exam. Nevertheless, the reverberations of the YOK decision will continue to roil the political landscape. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey JEFFREY