Turkish prime minister urges all students to drink milk

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan speaks yesterday at a meeting in Ankara.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan yesterday appealed to parents to ignore the controversy over milk distribution in schools and encourage their children to drink the milk “without any worries.”

The issue has become the subject of political exploitation, but the government has no intention of dropping the project, as inspections following the hospitalization of students who had consumed government-distributed milk established that food poisoning was not to blame, Erdoğan said, speaking at a gathering to mark International Farmers’ Day.

“I call on all students and parents again. I want them to drink the milk that is being distributed without any worries. I want them to ignore those people who are trying to exploit the small number of students who fell ill,” Erdoğan said. “The distribution of milk can also be seen as a project that indirectly supports the agriculture and stock-breeding sector. We hope to continue and finalize this project which has so many multi-directional benefits.” Thousands of students have been hospitalized across Turkey since early May when the milk distribution project kicked off in public schools. The government has attributed the illness to lactose intolerance and intestinal disorders.