Youths in Bulanık protesting at the ban on education in the mother tongue set fire to 3 schools yesterday. The schools became unusable.

Dozens of youths gathering in the Yenimahalle neighbourhood and started marching towards the town centre in order to protest the prohibition on education in the mother tongue.

Turkish police intervened in the protest and blockaded the youths, then attacked them with teargas and pressurized water. The youths responded with stones and fireworks. After the clash, the youths left the neighbourhood and set alight the Mehmet Akif Ersoy primary school. The youths then went to the Şehitlik neighbourhood and set fire to the Fatih Primary School. Finally, the youths burned the 125 Year primary school with molotovs and left the scene.

It took hours for the fire brigade to extinguish the blazes at the 3 schools. Fire brigade crews from Malazgirt municipality and from surrounding municipalities were called in to help extinguish the fires.

The co-mayor of Bulanık municipality, Figen Yaşar, and deputy mayor Mahfuz Selvi, came to the scene and observed the efforts of the fire fighters. While the schools were damaged, after the fires had been put out Turkish police were deployed at different points in the town centre.