25.04.2026 23:12
Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi announced that he has delegated the authority to determine working hours outside the night shift for 30,000 watchmen within the police force to the governors of 81 provinces. Touching on the issue of school security, Minister Çiftçi emphasized that assigning police to all 75,000 schools across the country is not sustainable, and stated that a solution can be achieved through watchmen, security guards, and new positions to be created within the Ministry of National Education.
Minister of Interior Mustafa Çiftçi came together with representatives of media organizations at the Istanbul Press Meeting held at Tersane Istanbul and made statements regarding the agenda.
“I DELEGATED THE AUTHORITY FOR WATCHMEN TO WORK OUTSIDE NIGHTTIME TO OUR GOVERNORS”
Minister Çiftçi stated that there are 30 thousand watchmen within the General Directorate of Security, and said these watchmen work after sunset. Noting that the authority for watchmen to work outside nighttime is given to the Minister of Interior, Minister Çiftçi said, “I delegated this authority to our 81 provincial governors. The authority to determine their working hours now lies with our provincial governors.”
“A POSITION FOR SECURITY OFFICERS IN SCHOOLS CAN BE ALLOCATED FROM THE GENERAL BUDGET”
Minister Mustafa Çiftçi continued as follows: “It falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of National Education, but a position for security officers in schools can be allocated from the General Budget. It can be evaluated as a service procurement, meaning it can be employed. There has been a practice in place for a long time in schools where meetings are held twice a year based on the current risk analysis. Here, the risk analysis was shaped mainly according to the socio-cultural and economic environment of the neighborhood where the school is located, and public order incidents. The incident where the attack occurred in Kahramanmaraş was in a risk-free group according to this risk analysis. Now, with this new regulation, we are redoing the risk analysis from scratch. We are introducing a student-centered approach to the risk factor.
“WITH OUR SCHOOL POLICE, NIGHT WATCHMEN, AND SECURITY GUARDS, THIS JOB CAN BECOME A BIT MORE SUSTAINABLE”
We already have our police in our schools that are first-degree and second-degree risky. In schools that are third-degree and fourth-degree risky, we have coordination officers. That is, there are people to contact when there is an issue or problem. With our school police on one hand, our night watchmen on the other, by changing their working hours, with our security guards, and perhaps with the security positions to be allocated to the Ministry of National Education, this job can become a bit more sustainable. But in its current state, it is not sustainable for us to assign two police officers to every school. There are 75 thousand schools in the country. Employing 150,000 people there is not sustainable in the long run.”