The AKP government is also working on the assimilation of Kurds at the social level, in parallel with its war policy in Kurdistan. In Van and Hakkari, the "family support centres" run by the governors' and district governors are used for this purpose. In these centres, religious education is offered all day for children aged six to 18 and for women. The use of the Kurdish language by course participants is prohibited.

Female AKP members advertise for participation in the courses in the districts and villages on behalf of the district organizations. They make house visits and invite women to meetings in order to convince them of the courses.

In religious education classes in the family centres, anti-propaganda against Kurdish culture is practised above all. Anyone who speaks Kurdish is warned. The course content includes the great men of the Turkish state, the history of the AKP and especially the life of Tayyip Erdogan. Young children are told about the afterlife, paradise and hell. AKP politicians and district councillors visit the family centres almost daily and keep them under constant surveillance. In addition, the AKP maintains "popular education centres" where foreign language courses are offered, such as Arabic, English, French and Persian. Kurdish courses do not exist.

A woman from the Tuşba district in Van told ANF how she was recruited to teach a religious course at a family centre: "One evening, some women from the district governorate came to my flat. They said that they had started a family support centre in the district and were giving Quran classes for children and women there. They urged me to come there too. The next day I enrolled myself and my two children for a course. I thought I would get religious instruction there. Instead, all they talked about was the AKP and Erdogan. When we spoke Kurdish among ourselves, we were told we could only speak Turkish. That was even the case with the children. As a result, I left the course with my children."