Human rights classes in Turkey's classrooms

As a site that is focused on problems with academic liberties and freedom of research in Turkey, we have been reporting very frustrating and often tragic news for almost four months. There have been some positive news in our coverage as well, such as the releases of the journalists Nedim Şener and Ahmet Şık, and the publisher and Nobel Peace Prize candidate Ragıp Zarakolu. Today we are happy to report another positive news item: the Ministry of National Education has launched a project to raise awareness among students about democratic citizenship and human rights in cooperation with the European Union, which allocated 9.1 million euros for the effort. Let us hope that the classes that will be created with these funds will not be electives to compete with the recently introduced elective courses on the Qur'an and the life of Muhammad. For a full report in English, visit Hurriyet Daily News.