In 2017, after winning a national referendum giving him new, sweeping, almost dictatorial powers, Erdoğan introduced a new educational curriculum for the schools. Its goal was to de-emphasize secular ideals and eliminate scientific theories that run counter to religious ideology, such as evolution. The education ministry declared that Turkey’s history would be taught “from the perspective of a national and moral education,” with the aim of protecting “national values,” rather than reflecting the secular liberal ideals that had been at the center of Turkish civil society, including its
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