With the end of the first semester of the 2025–2026 academic year, members of Liseli Genç Umut (High School Youth Hope) staged a protest in front of the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education on January 16. The students held a press conference with a banner reading, “We reject the report cards given by the AKP, we embrace hope.” Eyüp Ateş, who read the statement, protested against child labor, MESEM practices, the commercialization of education, and anti-secular practices. After the statement, the students tore up their report cards. Following the protest, the police detained the high school students for about 40 minutes and arrested two students. The arrested students were later released.
January 16, 2026
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