Volunteer teachers saddened by efforts to close Turkish schools


Date posted: January 29, 2015

BURCU ÖZTÜRK/ BETÜL TANRISEVEN/ / ISTANBUL

Volunteers teachers, most of whom left behind a better life in Turkey with the hope of promoting universal values of peace, dialogue and peaceful coexistence with others through education at Turkish schools abroad, have voiced great disappointment over efforts by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to defame and eventually see these schools close.

Erdoğan, who toured several African countries last week, pressed ahead with efforts to have Turkish schools affiliated with the Gülen movement (Hizmet movement) in African countries closed. “We have been talking about the status of these schools in the countries we visit and saying they should be closed,” he said during his visit to Ethiopia last Thursday. Erdoğan also said he has been telling African authorities that the Turkish Ministry of Education is ready to offer the same service provided by these schools. “The ministry is close to finishing its preparations to that effect,” he said.

The Turkish government and Erdoğan declared war on the Gülen movement after a graft investigation went public in December 2013. Erdoğan, who was prime minister at the time, saw the investigation as an attempted coup masterminded by the Gülen movement to overthrow his government.

One of the volunteers teachers, Ebru Köse, who has taught in Turkish schools in Afghanistan, Jordan, Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkmenistan and Ukraine, described the efforts to shut down the Turkish schools as “desperate,” noting that these efforts will first and foremost damage Turkey.

Köse said teachers working at Turkish schools under very difficult conditions do not expect anything in return for their efforts.

She explained that Turkish schools quickly win the trust of locals with their quality education, and added that although Afghan parents did not send their daughters to school in the early 2000s, they began doing so after a Turkish school opened in their country.

Nihal Güner, another volunteer teacher who migrated to Kenya with her husband, Ramazan, said her children and husband had health problems while they were abroad and that she even lost her husband to cancer but never thought of returning to Turkey.

She said she worked alongside her late husband on the construction of a school in Kenya and made desks and tables for students using broken tree branches.

“Closing these schools will be the biggest show of disrespect for the memory of those who lost their lives for this cause,” she said.

Another teacher, Sevgi Karyağdı, who worked at Turkish schools in Bashkortostan and Uzbekistan for many years, said she is deeply saddened by the efforts to shut down Turkish schools but feels at ease because she believes God is protecting these schools.

“Those who wish to close the schools will only damage our country’s image,” she said.

Source: Today's Zaman , January 29, 2015


Related News

Turkey seizes billions of dollars worth 691 companies over alleged ties to Gülen movement

The state-run Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) has announced that a total of 691 companies, some of whose assets are worth billions of dollars, have been seized by the government due to alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement. The government has been confiscating the private property of non-loyalist businesspeople without due process on unsubstantiated charges of terrorist links.

Turks are not cows

In question are serious and grave accusations such as being involved in corruption, stacking money in houses, seeking villas, trying to get rid of millions of dollars… If all of these were just slander, what would a political man with self-confidence do? Wouldn’t he publicly present concrete evidence proving the slander?

Education minister calls on African ambassadors to have Gülen-inspired schools closed

Turkish Education Minister İsmet Yılmaz has called on ambassadors of African countries to have their governments close schools affiliated with the faith-based Gülen movement.

Gulen-linked org’s statement on Turkish Govt’s arrest of pro-Kurdish Parliamentarians

AfSV Statement on Turkish Government’s Arrest of HDP Parliamentarians  Erdogan’s Persecutions Underscore Authoritarian Slide New York (November 9, 2016) – The Alliance for Shared Values is deeply concerned about the arrests of nine members of Turkish Parliament from the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), including the party’s co-chairs Mr. Selahattin Demirtas and Ms. Figen Yuksekdag. […]

Daily Trust Editorial: In Turkey, fresh affront on democracy

The AKP government, under emergency rule, has taken over hundreds companies, seized the assets of businessmen and shut down institutions linked to the movement. Despite the fact that Gülen denied the accusation and called for an international investigation into the coup attempt, President Erdoğan – calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” – and the Turkish government launched a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement.

“Like a Storm”: Deportations Stun Turks in Kosovo

The families of six Turkish nationals hastily deported from Kosovo to Turkey in a secretive intelligence operation speak of violence, fear and uncertainty.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Overwhelming public response in support of Bank Asya

Le Monde: Ankara offered Senegalese government $7.5 million to transfer Yavuz Selim educational group to Maarif

Minister thankful to Fethullah Gulen for backing the peace process

You Cannot Understand the Servants!

Can resurrecting the caliphate solve Muslims’ problems?

Turkish spies working for President Erdogan ‘infiltrate Germany’s migrant community’

The next phase in Turkey’s political violence – third and coming coup could be the most violent

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News