Student Oath or Student Pledge is the oath that was recited in school at the beginning of every school day. It was used until 2013, among other things, in primary schools in Turkey. After the regular morning singing the national anthem İstiklâl Marşı before class, the oath of was auditioned by a boy or a girl, or some groups of 3–4 students and repeated by all other students.
In preparation for the August 30th 50th Anniversary of the battle against Greek forces at Dumlupınar in 1922, the Student Oath was revised, and included as its last phrase "Ne mutlu Türküm diyene" from the 1933 speech. The regulation to do this was published in the Resmî Gazete No. 14291 on August 29, 1972.
Text of 1972 edition
Turkish: Türküm, doğruyum, çalışkanım. Yasam, küçüklerimi korumak, büyüklerimi saymak, yurdumu, milletimi özümden çok sevmektir. Ülküm yükselmek, ileri gitmektir. Varlığım Türk varlığına armağan olsun. Ey bu günümüzü sağlayan, Ulu Atatürk; açtığın yolda, kurduğun ülküde, gösterdiğin amaçta hiç durmadan yürüyeceğime ant içerim. Ne mutlu Türküm diyene. English: I am Turkish, honest and hardworking. My principle is to protect the younger to respect the elder, to love my homeland and my nation more than myself. My ideal is to rise, to progress. My existence shall be dedicated to the Turkish existence. O Great Atatürk, who had created our life of today; on the path that you have paved, in the country that you established, I swear to walk incessantly with the purposes that you have set. How happy is the one who says "I am Turkish."
1997
Text of 1997 edition
Turkish: Türküm, doğruyum, çalışkanım. İlkem, küçüklerimi korumak, büyüklerimi saymak, yurdumu, milletimi, özümden çok sevmektir. Ülküm, yükselmek, ileri gitmektir. Ey büyük Atatürk! Açtığın yolda, gösterdiğin hedefe durmadan yürüyeceğime ant içerim. Varlığım Türk varlığına armağan olsun. Ne mutlu Türküm diyene ! English : I am a Turk, honest and hardworking. My principle is to protect the younger to respect the elder, to love my homeland and my nation more than myself. My ideal is to rise, to progress. O Great Atatürk ! On the path that you have paved, I swear to walk incessantly toward the aims that you have set. My existence shall be dedicated to the Turkish existence. How happy is the one who says "I am a Turk!".
2013
Annulment
On 8 September 2013, the Official Gazette announced that the practice of reciting the Student Oath was abolished. This move was part of a “democratisation package” introduced by the Justice and Development Party which included other pro-Islamic and anti-secularist actions including removing the ban on women wearing headscarves in parliament. However, many welcomed the repeal of the oath because it was seen as exclusionary to Turkey’s minorities.
2018
Reinstation
In October 2018, the Council of State, the highest administrative court, decided that the Student Oath had been a well-established practice, and that the justification for removing it in 2013 by the Justice and Development Party had been insufficient. The decision came after legal action by Turkey’s Education and Science Worker’s Union. Many opponents of the AKP considered banning the oath to be really against the secularist policies of Turkish Republic founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. When the ruling was announced, Eğitim-Sen Chairperson Talip Geylan made a statement that the oath’s focus on Turkish identity was not racist, saying the renewed use of the Student Oath would be a "reward" for patriotic schoolchildren.
