The Dutch parliamentary member and frontman of the new Islamic political movement DENK, Tunahan Kuzu, has fiercely criticized the Dutch Minister of Education Jet Bussemaker for her involvement into the controversy surrounding the dean of the Islamic University of Rotterdam, Ahmet Akgündüz. Kuzu thinks that the minister should not interfere with the academic side of education. With his remarks Kuzu responds to the call from the minister for the dean to resign his position after a series of controversial remarks on Turkish politics.
“This is off course foolish. A minister should never get involved in the academic side of education. Every remark that is discriminating and offensive we condemn but we asked ourselves the question why they do not first start with their own departments. There are enough people involved in governmental services: at the polic
e, at the judiciary, teachers in classes”.
“According to a recent report of the Social Cultural Planning Bureau sixty percent of students who experience discrimination pointed to their teacher as its main source. Should you not then start with the teachers in stead of focusing on one man?”
“The minister thinks he should resign, this is not the minister’s role in this situation. The minister should deal with discrimination consistently and start with her own department,” Kuzu said.
