Erdogan’s bid to close Gulen schools in Africa opposed


Date posted: August 12, 2016

Abu-Bakarr Jalloh

Several African states have rejected Turkey’s request to close schools run by the Hizmet movement. Turkish President Erdogan accused Fethullah Gulen, who owns Hizmet, of involvement in the failed July 15 coup.

When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Uganda and Kenya in May, he sought to stamp out the influence of the Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen. He accused the preacher, who is on a self imposed exile in the United States, of using his connections to try to overthrow him, allegations which Gulen denied.

The Turkish government believes Gulen was behind the failed coup to unseat it. President Erdogan subsequently asked several African heads of states and governments to close down schools with ties to the preacher.

The Hizmet movement runs schools and universities in more than 160 countries, many of which are in Africa. Erdogan had branded Hizmet as a terrorist grouping, allied to Kurdish militants.

In Tanzania, the Feza school chain denied any links to the Hizmet movement and has rejected any idea of closing its doors to students. “You all know the Feza schools, they are supported by the Tanzanian government that means they are a property of the United Republic of Tanzania,” said Habib Miradj, chairman of the board of directors for Feza schools in Tanzania.

“We can have cooperation with schools that are [perhaps connected to the Gulen movement]. You can build cooperation with schools for instance in Rwanda, Burundi, etc. If anyone released information that Feza schools are associated with Gulen movement, they made a mistake,” Miradj added.

A DW correspondent in Nigeria, Uwaisu Idriss, said the Nigerian government claimed it had not received an official request from the Turkish government to close down schools run by the Hizmet movement.

Nigeria’s minister of education Adamu Adamu said at a regular press briefing that Turkey’s ambassador to Nigeria, Hakan Cakil, had urged the Nigerian government to close all Hizmet run schools.

“But the request was not official,” Adamu was quoted as saying. “Even if Turkey does make a formal request, it’s a domestic matter and we would deal with it domestically.”

Orhan Kermit, managing director of the Nigeria Turkish International College, on their website “urged the general public to ignore and disregard the statement by the Turkish ambassador.”

“Our school is fully functional and would continue to be,” Kermit said.

Kenya’s ministry of education also rejected any move to close down schools with links to the Turkish cleric.

Hizmet also runs 11 educational establishments in five regions in Senegal, with 2,600 students in enrolment. Mesut Gokcan Ates, spokesman for Gulen’s schools in Senegal, said he is optimistic because Turkey has not asked the Senegalese government to close down their schools.

However, Somalia has shut down premises belonging to the movement. The war-torn nation has benefited greatly from Turkish development aid in the past.

Turkish influence

Gulen’s network was once an instrument of Turkish soft power in Africa. Erdogan looked to the Hizmet movement for help in spreading Turkish cultural influence in the African continent.

Erdogan later fell out with Gulen, accusing his former ally of building a “parallel state” through his followers in the police, judiciary, media and businesses.

On Friday, Gulen said “if tenth of the accusations against me are proven, I pledge to go back to Turkey.”

Source: Deutsche Welle , August 12, 2016


Related News

German court fines pro-Erdoğan daily for calling Hizmet movement ‘terrorist’

German media reported on Monday that a court imposed a 250,000 euro fine on the German edition of the Sabah daily for labeling sympathizers of the Gülen, or Hizmet, movement “terrorists.”

When paths part…

ORHAN MİROĞLU The Hizmet movement and the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) have arrived at a critical junction in the road. The main problems that have emerged on the route towards this critical junction are of course not limited to the debates and disagreements surrounding the question of the closure of the prep schools. […]

The witch-hunt reaches Turkey’s media

“If this is a witch-hunt, yes, we will carry out this witch-hunt,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a few months ago to confront criticism that his government has gone too far in removing police officers and prosecutors who carried out a corruption investigation against his ministers and son.

Erdogan purge far worse than the McCarthy era

What is happening in Turkey right now makes the McCarthy era in the US look like a picnic. When communists were targeted under McCarthyism they were blacklisted; hundreds were jailed, and many were compelled to leave the country. In Turkey it is not communists, but Gulenists. Anyone remotely associated with the Gulen movement is being rounded up and jailed – not by the hundreds, but by the tens of thousands.

With blinders on, government sees everything as parallel structure

One of the attendees of the convention in Washington, columnist Yavuz Semerci wrote in the Habertürk daily on Sunday that organizers of the convention and its sponsor — Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) — expressed their disapproval of the bill and asked that the subject be left to historians and not politicians.

Turkey’s failed coup could worsen Nigeria’s recession

For an economy almost in recession, these kind of controversies could be worrisome. This is actually not the time to close down any legitimate business in Nigeria. Turkish schools and their promoters have not really given the Nigerian government any reason to worry. They have been law abiding citizens in Nigeria.

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

Discrimination by AKP government [against Hizmet movement]

Interview with Henri Barkey on the Hizmet Movement

Judge suffering cancer jailed in Kocaeli, wife under detention in Tokat

Very bad things are happening in Turkey

Gülen discounts neither past nor modernity

African Union president demands more Turkish schools

Bangladesh’s Turkish school student becomes first in world math exam

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News