Turks, Rio de Janeiro gov’t sign agreement to further education efforts in Brazil


Date posted: November 13, 2015

YAVUZ UĞURTAŞ / RIO DE JANEIRO

The Brazilian-Turkish Cultural Center (CCBT) and the Rio de Janeiro state government signed an education cooperation agreement on Tuesday paving the way for the establishment of a long-anticipated “Brazil-Turkey Intercultural High School” by Turkish entrepreneurs sympathetic to the faith-based Gülen movement in Duque de Caxias, a city in southeast Brazil.

Brazilian Education Minister Antonio Neto said the deal was signed between “the people of the two countries” and expressed his gratitude to the Turkish entrepreneurs for their efforts to improve relations between the two nations.

“Thanks to this agreement and the planned intercultural high school, information pollution regarding the Middle East and Turkey will be cleared and our people will get to know more about Turkish people and culture,” Neto told Brazilian and Turkish press members after the signing ceremony on Tuesday.

The Brazil-Turkey Intercultural High School that will be established within the scope of the agreement will operate as a charter school and be run by people of Turkish descent. The school is planned to go into action at the beginning of the 2016-2017 academic year, which kicks off in February of next year.

Volunteers affiliated with the Gülen movement, also known as the Hizmet movement — an initiative inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen that started out a quarter-century ago in the autonomous Azerbaijani region of Nakhchivan to support education for children abroad — now operate in 160 countries, with the founders of the movement and its volunteers welcomed with open arms around the world.

However, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently declared a war against the Gülen movement since a major corruption investigation that implicated him and many people in his government became public in December of 2013 and has pressed for the closure of Turkish schools in countries he visits. Most recently, Erdoğan campaigned for the closure of these schools in Albania, a request respectfully dismissed by top Albanian leaders.

Source: Today's Zaman , November 11, 2015


Related News

Terrorist organization seeks to fill void in Southeast after closure of prep schools

Terrorist organizations are getting ready to fill the void in the education system in Turkey’s Kurdish-dominated Southeast following the government’s decision to shut down prep schools and study centers, the Bugün daily said on Monday. “The [terrorist Kurdistan Workers Party] PKK is increasing the number of Education Support Houses [EDEV] in the eastern and southeastern […]

Elizabeth Munisoglu on Hizmet Movement

Elizabeth Munisoglu is a Commissioner at State of California Superior Court, Los Angeles County. She received her Juris Doctor degree from Pepperdine University School of Law in 1988. Munisoglu specialized in criminal law, and served as the Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney for 18 years.

Turkey should compensate abused Nigerian students

The recent unjustified arrest, detention, traumatization and subsequent release of 50 Nigerian students in Turkey by that country’s government must rank as a most unfortunate low in the Nigerian – Turkish relations. Seen in context, it constitutes an instance of unjustified victimization of innocent foreigners, out of misplaced grudge by a government that had no cause for such act of indiscretion.

Turkish delegation visits Crimea Simferopol International School

As a part of the publicity efforts for “Eskisehir 2013 Capital of Turkic Culture” project in Crimea, a delegation from Eskisehir province of Turkey visited Simferopol International School in Crimea. Eskisehir Governor Kadir Kocdemir, Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Eskisehir Deputy Ulker Can, Republican People’s Party Eskisehir Deputy Kazim Kurt, Turkish Consul General to […]

Prep school transformation plan violates Constitution, experts say

DERVİŞ GENÇ, İSTANBUL A government plan to shut down Turkey’s prep schools — or “transform” them, as the government argues — violates the Turkish Constitution and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), according to experts. “Parliament can neither close the prep schools with a law nor force them to transform. […]

Final declaration of the 33rd Abant Platform: “Turkey direction”

Participants in the 33rd Abant Platform, which ended on Sunday in the northwestern town of Akçakoca, agreed that Turkey has lost its direction in both its domestic and foreign policy, saying the way to rectify this is to restore its commitment to the accession process into the European Union and the rule of law at home.

Latest News

Sacramento leaders gather for Iftar dinner in celebration of Ramadan

SEO Skill Suite: Tools for Keyword Research, Technical & Backlink Analysis

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

In Case You Missed It

Ramadan joy in 110 countries on 5 continents

Jews, Muslims Bond Over Shared Values

Erdogan’s Failed Crusade: The World Rejects His War on Hizmet

Turkish schools in Mali stay open despite conflict

UN to Turkey: Free and Compensate Gulen-linked Detainees

Jews should speak up for Hizmet

‘I feel like I have been buried alive’: families live in fear and isolation as Erdoğan leads a witch-hunt

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News