Türkiye decides to revise textbook terminology

ISTANBUL

The Turkish Education Ministry has decided to revise a series of frequently used expressions in school textbooks, while also launching a province-specific curriculum project, local media has reported.

“There are some concepts imposed on us within our curriculum that we are not even aware of. For example, something that may seem very harmless to you is that in our history books we are taught it as the Crusades,” Education Minister Yusuf Tekin said this week, referring to a series of military campaigns launched by the Papacy between 1095 and 1291 against Muslim rulers.

“It may sound harmless in our literature, but when we say ‘campaign,’ it sounds acceptable, almost benign. However, it was an attack. Therefore, we have removed the term ‘Crusades’ from the curriculum and replaced it with ‘Crusader Attacks.” That is the correct term,” he said.

Local media outlets reported that this conceptual revision is part of a wider set of terminology changes in textbooks.

According to these reports, the term “Central Asia,” traditionally taught as the ancestral homeland of Turks before their arrival in Anatolia, will now be referred to as “Turkestan” in school materials.

Similarly, the term “Age of Discovery,” used to describe voyages of exploration from the 15th century onwards, will be replaced with “Colonialism Policies,” in reference to the colonial expansion that followed European exploration of new continents.

Another controversial revision is about the narrative that Armenians were subjected to genocide by the Ottoman Empire in 1915, a claim strictly rejected by the Turkish government.

The issue, commonly referred to in Turkish education as the Armenian question or issue, will now be presented to students as “unfounded Armenian allegations.”

In parallel, the Ottoman-era relocation policy applied to Armenians will no longer be described as the “Relocation Law,” but as the “Resettlement Law.”

In addition, new conceptual frameworks such as “Blue Homeland” for maritime rights and “Green Homeland” referring to forests will also be incorporated into textbooks.

 Curriculum tailored to cities

The ministry’s new plan also envisions a shift toward city-specific curricula. Instead of a uniform national education model, schools will increasingly tailor instruction to the economic dynamics of each province.

The strategy aims to ensure that students graduate with skills directly aligned with local labor market needs, enabling faster integration into employment.

Programs and departments that no longer correspond to industry demand or do not contribute to regional economies will be gradually phased out, while sectors identified as growth drivers in each region will be strengthened.

For example, in Antalya, tourism-related education is expected to be prioritized, while in Bilecik, known for its ceramics production, educational investments will be revised to reinforce the ceramics industry and related fields.