DEM Party Co-Chairs Tülay Hatimoğulları and Tuncer Bakırhan issued a message ahead of the 2026–2027 academic year. Hatimoğulları stated that the right to education should not vary according to a family’s income, the place where a student lives or the language they speak. Defending quality, free, accessible public education in one’s mother tongue, Hatimoğulları said that school expenses should not place a burden on parents and that teachers should work under secure conditions. She opposed students being removed from education through MESEM programs and turned into cheap labor. Bakırhan, meanwhile, said that millions of students were not returning to school under equal conditions and that food, school supplies, transportation and housing costs could not be met because of poverty. Emphasizing that education is a fundamental right, not a privilege, Bakırhan called for free, quality, scientific, secular, democratic, gender-equal and mother-tongue education to be guaranteed. He also stated that teachers should be provided with secure, humane working and living conditions.
Why it matters
The messages indicate that the new academic year should be assessed not only by the start of classes, but also by the conditions under which students are able to return to school. The fact that differences in income, place of residence and language determine access to the right to education shows that existing inequalities do not end at the school gates. Food, transportation, housing and school-supply costs demonstrate that education policies are directly linked to family budgets and students’ daily lives. The objection to MESEM programs, meanwhile, opens up for debate students’ position in the education process and their relationship with working life. The statements leave on the agenda the question of which concrete regulations will meet the demands concerning the right to education and teacher security.
Background
The party is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: we have published 4 reports mentioning it in the past 90 days; the latest was dated September 9, 2026.