Disregard call to close Turkish schools – Proprietors tell Nigerian govt


Date posted: July 29, 2016

YEMI OLUWADARE

Owners of the Nigeria Turkish International College have urged Nigeria to disregard the call by the Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Hakan Cakil, to close its schools in the country.

The proprietors said Cakil’s statement was flawed with ulterior motives.

The proprietors of the schools made the call through a statement signed by its Managing Director, Orhan Kermit, on Friday.

Kermit said the school did not have anything to do with the Turkish government; rather it is a privately funded institution by a group of Turkish investors.

He described the school as only Turkish in Name but Nigerian in deeds. He said the school was founded in 1998 with a philosophy hinged on dialogue, love and tolerance.

“The general public is at the moment urged to ignore and disregard the statement by the Turkish ambassador. Our school is fully functional and would continue to be,” Kermit wrote in the statement.

The Government of Turkey through its ambassador, Cakil had on Thursday said it alerted the Nigerian Government to the existence of schools owned by suspected terrorists.

Advertisement

The ambassador had called on the country to shut down the schools, just like the Turkish government did in Turkey.

The ambassador had held that there are 17 of such schools in Nigeria, which bear the name of Turkey” but were not owned by the European country.

Cakil said the institutions, which ranged from schools to hospitals, were allegedly owned by the Fethullah Gulen Terrorist Organisation.

A document released by the Turkish embassy had listed the indicted schools and institutions as Surat Educational Limited, Abuja; Nigerian-Turkish International School, in Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, Yobe, Ogun and Lagos; and the Nigerian-Turkish Nile University, Abuja.

It had also indicted The Association of Businessmen and Investors of Nigeria and Turkey/Abinat, Abuja and Lagos; Ufuk Dialogue Foundation, Abuja; Nigerian-Turkish Nizamiye Hospital, Abuja; and Vefa Travel Agency, Abuja.

Ambassador Cakil had made the call while speaking to the Vice-Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Shehu Sani, when the latter paid the diplomat a visit at his Abuja office.

Source: Today , July 29, 2016

Tags: | | | | |


Related News

School officials to sue the Turkish ambassador for defamation

In response to statements made by the Turkish ambassador to Cambodia on Monday, officials from the Zaman International School (ZIS) yesterday denied any links with terrorist organizations, saying the ambassador’s claims were unfounded and lacked evidence.

Erdoğan’s overarching purge is not a road accident

The purge of the Hizmet Movement is what the Kurdish question was to Kemalism, a necessary tool with which to construct a new national identity, a tool to silence those who question it, and to design a social and political system that will foster it. Unfortunately, Turkey has no chance of going back, even to its fragile and dysfunctional democracy, without this narrative being completely rejected.

Chronology of Dec. 17: The stones are settling into place…

İSTANBUL Dec. 17, 2013: On the morning of Dec. 17, Turkey wakes up to a bribery and corruption operation. Simultaneous operations in İstanbul and Ankara take place after an investigation that included allegations of land being opened up to illegal city zoning, bribery and money laundering. The operations, which are carried out on the orders […]

Turkey: Effort to Force Closure of Gülen Schools Falling Flat in Eurasia

The situation in Georgia illustrates the challenge for Turkish diplomats. A few days after the July 15 coup attempt, a translation of a TV interview began circulating that featured Yasin Temizkan, Turkey’s consul in the city of Batumi. In the interview, Temizkan urged the Georgian government to close the local Refaiddin Şahin Friendship School, a private institution considered part of the Gülen network. The justification, Temizkan said, was that the school was “serving terrorist groups.”

The Gülen movement as the victim of an orchestrated smear campaign

When the Justice and Development Party (AKP) took office in 2002 under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the party’s commitment to democratization was promising. As many political scientists agreed, the first years of AKP rule were a success story, and that was why, with its secular multi-party democracy and its Muslim character, Turkey had emerged as a role model for the Muslim world.

The businessman who sits on his cell phone to avoid wiretapping

A businessman summarized it like this: “In the past, it was very important in the business community to have a meeting with Fethullah Gülen. Those going to the United States would try to get an appointment; yet today, different meanings are being attributed to these meetings. Those who in the past made sure to have these meetings publicly are now praying they do not come to the surface.”

Latest News

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

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Hizmet movement has no political ambitions

An Armenian from Turkey in Los Angeles…

Turkish experience in Sudan: making a difference

Turkey’s Wrong Turn

UK Clears Gulenists Of Turkey’s ‘Coup’ Accusations

Heartbreaking stories of Turkish Refugees in Greece

Erdoğan: both asset and liability for AKP

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News