Following President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s targeting, Education Minister Yusuf Tekin announced that he would file a lawsuit against the declaration titled “We Defend Secularism Together,” signed by 168 intellectuals on February 19, 2026. In a statement to TGRT, Tekin argued that the declaration was malicious and claimed that the Ramadan circular was based on the principle of voluntarism. The declaration stated that Turkey was under a “reactionary-Sharia siege” and expressed that secularism would be defended.
February 19, 2026
Sendika.Org