Tillo, Ibrahim Hakki Hazretleri and Teachers' Day

This year Teachers' Day on 24 November was celebrated in an atmosphere in which many problems of teachers and the education community were being discussed. Teaching is truly one of the most important professions of a society. Although it holds true for other professions too, it is a profession in which doing it with love, devotion and passion matters far more. When the practitioners of this profession, which educates and shapes human beings, do this work devoid of love, zeal, excitement and idealism, when they see and treat the matter merely as a livelihood, its reflection on coming generations is inevitable. From an education system filled with such people it is naturally impossible for generations of high character and strength to be raised.

Truly, it is hard to say that in Turkey we are in a good position, compared to other countries, regarding doing one's profession with love and belief. Worse, unfortunately, we are in a position to outdo other countries in doing one's profession almost with hatred. Our professional ethics is at a level where everyone feels and performs his own profession almost like a pre-decided punishment. Yet it is a condition required by the general health and security of society that everyone do the profession he practices within a puritan ethic and responsibility, seeing it as a kind of divine appointment. It is very clear that we need a strong discourse and enthusiasm for this across all professions.

This year we lived through a Teachers' Day in which teachers expressed a series of troubles and discontents, from teachers who could not be appointed, to those who, though appointed, are experiencing serious problems with their posts, from teachers separated from their spouses, to those working in prep schools announced to be closed. The problems of all these teachers are worth thinking over, and producing solutions for them is essential. Undoubtedly, just as teachers have the responsibility to do the profession with the love of worship, their right to expect a serious, caring and respectful approach to their problems from the education administration cannot be denied.

This year I spent Teachers' Day by taking part in an event that I had announced two months or so ago on the occasion of an event in Tillo. You may recall that I had spoken of the restoration of a light mechanism that İbrahim Hakkı of Tillo, who said "If the first sun born in the new year does not light my teacher's bedside, what would I do with that sun!", developed as an expression of the right of Fakirullah to teaching.

As we said before, the light event is undoubtedly not merely a simple event of optical reflection. There are very many meanings that can be reflected from this event. At the head of these meanings is a call to bear witness to the spiritual depth of the teacher-student relationship.

At the initiative of the Siirt Governorship and Siirtliler Net, an effort was begun that makes this extremely elegant expression of the teacher-student relationship the symbol of Teachers' Day. Truly, although Teachers' Day is a nice event, because it is not filled with strong stories about teacher-student relations it cannot, in most cases, go beyond forced celebration events. Yet how many beautiful stories of this kind there are in our tradition. It is certain that by bringing such stories to the fore this day can acquire a more meaningful content across all of Turkey. This kind of expression of İbrahim Hakkı's affection for his teacher contains very important lessons about the magnificent balance between knowledge and wisdom, debt and loyalty, fidelity and show. The relationship between this student and his teacher goes far beyond the level of a simple exchange of knowledge.

At the proposal of Eyüp Güzel, the innovative manager of Siirtliler Net as a civil initiative, the Siirt Governorship began, from this year, to hold the Teachers' Day celebrations in Tillo around this meaningful story. As a start to this, again as an innovative additional event, it brought Siirt writers together with their readers in Siirt at a book-signing event. Siirt writers such as Prof. Dr. İhsan Süreyya Sırma, the doyen local journalist Cumhur Kılıççıoğlu, Emine Uçak-Erdoğan, Vadullah Taş, Serkan Tekin and Mesut Yılmaz signed their books after a panel in which they told their readers their stories of writing. The event took place under the encouragement, support and patronage of the governor of Siirt, Ahmet Aydın.

Since the occasion arises, I must also convey my impression of Siirt Governor Ahmet Aydın. The Governor, who from the day he took office has blended with the people of Siirt at extraordinary speed and has made a difference at once with the very nice gestures and activities he has carried out, is a perfect example of how big a difference the approach of administrators serving in the region can make. The Governor, who from the day he arrived has left no opinion leader unvisited, represents with his utterly modest personality the smiling, compassionate face of the state. The Governor, who is in constant search for Siirt, for raising the quality of life of people in Siirt, solving their problems, and promoting and developing the city, has already put his signature to a series of projects.

In his Teachers' Day speech, the governor, without any complex, reminded that a responsibility must be felt for the children who go up to the mountains, and said that those children who go up to the mountains for one reason or another are also our children, and that an important responsibility falls on teachers to ensure, through a compassionate approach shown before they go, that they hold on to life and society.

The people of Siirt have grown quite fond of their governor, have embraced him, and recommend such a governor for every province...