Bringing Agos to school and praising Armenians and Alevis cited as grounds for disciplinary action
Turkish Language and Literature teacher İsmibey Güşeli was serving at Avcılar Firüzköy Anatolian High School until he was reassigned to Küçükçekmece Kadriye Moroğlu Anatolian High School by the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education.
It was revealed that prior to the reassignment in October 2025, various complaints had been filed against Güşeli by his colleagues to the Avcılar District Directorate of National Education. The complaint petitions alleged that since the 2023-2024 academic year, Güşeli had "engaged in labeling, speech, and behavior that offended students in his classes; continuously introduced extracurricular political, racial, religious, and sectarian topics instead of following the official curriculum, thereby causing discomfort among students; discriminated by holding Alevism superior to other races and beliefs; made praising or supportive remarks about Armenians and Selahattin Demirtaş; engaged in ideological taunting through Agos and Evrensel newspapers, disturbing other teachers and the peace of the school; used inappropriate and insulting language and epithets toward teachers; failed to comply with majority opinions and decisions; and hindered school and departmental cooperation by imposing his own wishes and thoughts." While the Avcılar District Governorate requested an investigation, the Avcılar District Directorate of National Education appointed two investigators to substantiate the nature of the allegations.
Allegations of obstructing the use of the workspace
According to information obtained from Güşeli’s lawyer, Bilgütay Hakkı Durna, the appointed investigators heard the complaints and requested disciplinary action against Güşeli. The petitions included allegations that "he spread Agos and Evrensel newspapers on the teachers' lounge table, reacted when the newspapers were moved aside, left the newspapers open when he left, negatively affected the order and cleanliness of the teachers' common area, made it difficult to use the workspace, entered into arguments with teachers, disrupted the school's peace, deviated from the curriculum in lessons, and portrayed Alevis as superior." The investigators subsequently took İsmibey Güşeli's statement regarding these allegations.
Spouse’s health issues disregarded
The Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education first imposed disciplinary penalties of "1-year suspension of professional step advancement" (which, since he is at the 4th step of the 1st degree, resulted in a 1/4 deduction from his gross salary) and a "1/30 salary deduction." Subsequently, the decision was made to reassign Güşeli from his current school to Küçükçekmece Kadriye Moroğlu Anatolian High School. Güşeli filed a lawsuit for the annulment of the penalties. The lawsuit petition stated that Güşeli’s right to defense was restricted and the presumption of innocence was violated.
The petition noted that, despite a written request, the investigation file was provided to Güşeli in a highly incomplete form, preventing him from making an effective defense, and that he was not informed of the exact nature of the charges or how the attributed acts constituted a disciplinary offense.
According to the petition, Güşeli resides in Esenyurt, and his commute to the school in Avcılar took 20 minutes; it is crucial for him to be in a school near his home due to an accident his wife suffered. However, the petition emphasized that Güşeli’s mobility was restricted upon his reassignment to Küçükçekmece. According to the petition, the family has two children. Due to his wife’s health problems, Güşeli must drop the children off at school himself, a situation that creates further hardship.
Request for reassignment to Esenyurt rejected
The petition stated that although Güşeli repeatedly notified the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education, both verbally and in writing, of his request to be assigned to one of the schools in the Esenyurt district—where there is a teacher shortage—the family's special circumstances were not taken into account.
Speaking to Agos, Güşeli’s lawyer, Bilgütay Hakkı Durna, stated that the Administrative Court rejected the request for a stay of execution regarding the cancellation of the reassignment and that the file is currently before the Regional Court of Appeals (İstinaf). Lawyer Durna also noted that separate lawsuits have been filed for the disciplinary penalties and that the legal process is ongoing.
