a href="/myfiles/Images/2015/01/09/20141220T130249-1419069769764496300_big.jpg" title="President Recep Tayyip Erdogan moved that the new campus should be called "Esenbo?a Külliyesi" instead of "Esenbo?a Kampüsü." — Courtesy photo" President Recep Tayyip Erdogan moved that the new campus should be called "Esenbo?a Külliyesi" instead of "Esenbo?a Kampüsü." — Courtesy photo
TURKISH President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has proposed that university campuses be called “kulliye,” a word with Arabic roots that would replace the English-inspired word “kampus,” Hurriyet Daily News reported this week.
Speaking during the opening ceremony of a new campus at the Yildrim Beyazit University in Ankara, he said he had discussed introducing the word, widely used in Ottoman Turkey, with the education minister.
“We just had a discussion with the education minister about the word kampüs. Should this be the word? … I thought of revisiting our history and thought perhaps külliye would be better. It would be a first in this new period,” he said.
Erdogan then moved that the new campus should be called “Esenbo?a Külliyesi” instead of “Esenbo?a Kampüsü.”
Separately, the Hurriyet reports that the Turkish president had recently sought to introduce the Ottoman language in schools, adding that it will be taught whether critics “like it or not.”
On Tuesday, Erdogan warned the European Union it should crack down on “Islamophobia” amid rising anti-Muslim protests instead of trying to teach Turkey lessons about democracy.
Erdogan told Turkey's ambassadors posted abroad in a speech in Ankara that they should pursue an assertive foreign policy to represent strong and self-confident “new Turkey” under his rule.
Erdogan called on the 28-member bloc to “revisit its Turkey policy”, accusing Europe of dragging its feet on Ankara's decade-old membership bid.
“Believe me it is regrettable that the EU is trying teach a lesson to Turkey instead of trying to tackle very serious threats it is facing,” he said.
Erdogan said racist, discriminatory activities and Islamophobia were on the rise in Europe, complaining that racist organizations won sympathy in some Western societies with “each passing day”.
“The Islamophobia — which we constantly draw attention to and warn of — represents a serious threat in Europe.”— Agencies
