Timur Soykan
In a large and spacious 5-storey building inside a mosque in İstanbul Bahçelievler, there is a Quranic course affiliated to the Presidency of Religious Affairs. I will not write the name of this Quranic school for the best interests of the children. There are Quranic courses for children from 4-6 years old. There is also an overnight centre for boys between the ages of 10 and 13, where they receive hafiz training. The families of most of these children live in İstanbul, even in Bahçelievler, but they were given to the Quranic Course as boarders.
THE TEACHER HEARD FROM THE CHILDREN
Some of the children study at an imam hatip secondary school near the Quranic course. Last week, a teacher at the imam hatip secondary school overheard the children boarding at the Quranic course talking. They were telling her that the instructor had sexually abused them. Upon the teacher’s application, Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office initiated an investigation and the 24-year-old bellman İbrahim K. was detained.
Seventeen of the children boarding at the Quran course were brought to the Bakırköy Child Monitoring Centre last weekend. The children were between the ages of 10 and 13. On Saturday 9 children and on Sunday 8 children talked about their experiences under the supervision of a pedagogue. Due to press ethics, we will not include the statements of the children in the news report. However, most of the children expressed in detail what İbrahim K. did to them in the rooms inside the course. Some children said that İbrahim K. lied on their beds while they were sleeping and sexually abused them.
DID THEY WANT TO HIDE THE SCANDAL?
İbrahim K. was found to have left the course in September. This raised the suspicion that the sexual abuse of children had been recognised by the authorities and that he had been removed from the institution. As a matter of fact, some children stated that other staff members had seen İbrahim K.’s behaviour towards them.
During the investigation, it was revealed that some of the children in the course had been cut off from education. When their statements were taken at the Bakırköy Child Monitoring Centre, some of them said that they were “attending secondary school from outside”. It is common for reactionary parents not to send their children to school and to pretend that they are studying in open education. Since the state does not supervise compulsory education, children who are sent to sect madrassas and Quran courses are deprived of their right to education.
After the statements were taken, İbrahim K. was arrested and sent to prison. No action has been taken against the Quran course for the time being and it continues its activities.
THEY WERE LEAVED IN THE SAME COURSE
Despite all that happened… The majority of the victim children were left by their families at the Quranic boarding course. The prosecutor’s office did not take any measures in this regard. Children aged 10-13 continue to receive hafiz education in the same building where they were sexually abused and traumatised. The investigation was continuing with great secrecy. Employees of the organisations involved in the case are being pressured not to leak information. Everyone knows that the reason for this secrecy is not to protect the children, but to cover up the realities of the new regime in Turkey, where secularism is being strangled.
As a result, almost all those who know about this incident are silent out of fear. However, they should be silent when children are sleeping, not when they are being subjected to this nightmare. We have seen in many instances that these investigations are not expanded without the public’s reaction, and that they even want to hide.
I called Mustafa Kayış, the Mufti of Bahçelievler, to allow him the right to respond to the issue.
The social media accounts of the Quranic course had photos of Mufti Mustafa Kayış’s visits to the course. Mustafa Kayış said that the matter had been referred to the judiciary and that he could not make a statement.
While this scandal was taking place at the Diyanet Quran course, Ali Erbaş, the President of Religious Affairs, was in the spotlight for his luxury office car. He continues to pose with a sword in his hand in the pulpit.
Note: This text has been translated from the original Turkish version titled Diyanet’in kuran kursunda skandal, 17 çocuk istismar edildi, published in BirGün newspaper on April 25, 2025.