Turkish citizens across the spectrum unite to mourn 12 people, 11 of them young girl students, after they died in a dormitory fire on 29 November in Adana. Behind the tragedy, however, lies a chain of negligence that includes the carte blanche that religious groups have to provide unregulated education and Turkey’s notoriously poor public safety laws

Twelve people, including 11 girl students under the age of 13, perished in a fire at a dormitory in Adana’s Aladağ district on 29 November, becoming the latest victims to die as a result of gross negligence on the part of the public authorities and a government that has entrusted student accommodation and education to shadowy religious groups.

The victims, dorm employee Fatma Canatan, 20; and students Cennet Karataş, 10; Tuğba Aydoğdu, 10; Bahtınur Baş, 10; Nurgül Pertlek, 11; Gamze Bagır, 12; İlknur Maden, 12; Sümeyye Yetim, 12; Sema Nur Aydoğdu, 13; Sevim Köylü, 13; Zeliha Avcı, 13; and Sare Betül Genç, 6, perished when a fire erupted at 19.25 on the evening of 29 November.

Experts believe the fire at the dorm run by the Aid Association for Students of Educational Age began due to a fault with an electrical box but was then rapidly spread because the roof was wooden and the floor was carpeted.

Many of the girls who were killed were found in a huddle next to the fire escape on the top floor that failed to open.

“It’s fate, in the end,” academic Tayyar Arı, who was appearing on CNN Türk when news of the fire emerged, said on TV, echoing a standard government line in the wake of every tragedy to befall the country.

Seeking to deflect blame, Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak rejected suggestions, including testimony from survivors, that the door had been locked.

Mechanical and work safety expert Hasan İhsan Pepedil, however, said on 1 December said that while there were no locks on the door, it failed to open because it was made of plastic that melted in the blaze even though it was supposed to resist against any fire for 90 minutes.

At the same time, Pepedil added that the door also had no handles, making the girls’ efforts to escape almost impossible.

Additionally, there were no signs indicating the emergency exit, he added.

Education Minister İsmet Yılmaz claimed that there was no problem with the building.

“A check was conducted last year. There was no problem. Another inspection was done six months after that. There was no problem then either. We will draw the necessary lessons,” he said.

Schools run by religious orders

The school was reportedly run by the Süleymancılar, a conservative religious order that has its roots in the Naqshbandi Sufi order but began focusing on providing Quranic education upon the death of its shaykh, Süleyman Hilmi Tunahan, in 1959.

The Süleymancılar are just one of many religious orders that has been entrusted with providing education and accommodation for students in Turkey in recent years under successive right-wing governments. With the current Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) move to liquidate its erstwhile ally, the Gülen movement, following an attempted coup in July, many religious orders have been jockeying for position to assume the place of the Gülenist movement, which has operated a comprehensive network of schools and dorms around the country.

Parents of students at the dormitory said they were forced to allow their children to be housed in the dorm because a previous state-run dorm building had been destroyed, leaving them with no choice but to opt for the facilities run by the Süleymancılar.

One relative of one of the victims said they had not even been aware that the dorm was being run by a religious order.

The fire in Aladağ is not the first deadly incident to involve the Süleymancılar. In 2008, a gas canister exploded a Quranic school in the Central Anatolian province of Konya, causing a building collapse that killed 18 children. Despite expert reports pointing to a number of incidents of negligence, no suspects have remained in detention in connection with the case, which is continuing to wind its way through the courts.

Six more children died last year when an electric heater malfunctioned at another Quranic school run by a different group in Amed’s (Diyarbakır) Pasûr (Kulp) district.

Apart from immediate dangers to children stemming from a lack of regulation and safety in terms of building codes, children have also faced risks of sexual assault in facilities run by Islamic religious groups with close ties to the government.

Earlier this year, a 54-year-old employee of the Ensar Foundation, which boasts of its “religious and moral education,” was charged with sexually assaulting 10 boys at a dorm in the Central Anatolian province of Karaman.

Those protesting the Ensar Foundation’s activities have been detained, while government supporters have closed ranks to defend the group.

The acceleration of religious groups’ involvement comes amid vows by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to raise “pious generations.”

AKP Adana MP Necdet Ünüvar previously praised the Süleymancılar for its work in opening dorms. “Every segment in society has a task to ensure that our students are raised in the best way possible. As such, the Aid Association for Students of Educational Age has an important role to play … It is an association that is raising useful people for this country.”

Journalist Nedim Şener, who was previously arrested allegedly at the behest of Gülenist prosecutors, has previously noted that the Süleymancılar have been able to open facilities around the country wherever they wish, citing the General Staff.

Sendika.Org, Hürriyet Daily News