Ethiopian schools linked to Turkish cleric are sold to German educators


Date posted: March 1, 2017

ELIAS MESERET, Associated Press

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — A network of schools in Ethiopia linked to Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Turkey of masterminding a failed coup attempt last year, is changing ownership.

The sale of the Nejashi Ethio-Turkish International Schools follows pressure from the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is urging countries that host institutions inspired by Gulen to close or take them over.

The sale of the school network to a group of educators from Germany was a “business decision,” Cecil Aydin, a coordinator at the schools in Ethiopia, said this week.

Aydin did not identify the new owners. The German embassy declined to comment.

Ethiopia previously said the schools, which currently enroll nearly 2,000 students, many from elite Ethiopian families, would be handed over to a foundation backed by the Turkish government.

Erdogan raised his concerns about the global network of schools linked to Gulen during a trip to Tanzania, Mozambique and Madagascar in January.

Turkey accuses schools inspired by Gulen of providing militant recruits for his movement, which in turn says an increasingly authoritarian government is casting as wide a net as possible for perceived opponents. Gulen, who is based in Pennsylvania, has denied that he engineered the botched uprising.

Ethiopia’s prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, said in January that Erdogan had raised concerns about the schools on a visit to Addis Ababa.

Nejashi Ethio-Turkish International Schools, Alemgena Banch

Nejashi Ethio-Turkish International Schools, Alemgena Banch

“I told him that if there is something wrong with the establishment of the schools, then he should give us a way out how to keep the schools running,” Desalegn said.

Turkey’s campaign against Gulen in Africa has been criticized by some who say the call to close schools lacks evidence of wrongdoing and infringes on national sovereignty. Turkey, however, has significant economic clout in some countries. In Ethiopia, for example, dozens of Turkish companies operate in railways, textile factories and other industries.

The Nejashi Ethio-Turkish International Schools opened nine years ago and have six branches with kindergartens, primary schools and high schools. Annual fees run to more than $2,500 per child, an amount beyond the means of most Ethiopians.

Hakan Ulus, a spokesman for the schools, said the sale left many Turkish employees in limbo.

“I was lucky enough and have acquired a Ugandan passport with which I can travel everywhere,” Ulus said. “But there are many families of the teachers and their families who are feeling stranded here because they teach at this institution.”

Source: The Gazette , March 1, 2017


Related News

Lawyer put behind bars along with 3-month-old baby

An Istanbul lawyer, identified with her initials O.E.H., was put in pretrial detention along with her three-month-old baby as part of an investigation into the Gulen movement, media said.

Paranoia: Turkish ‘hero’ T-shirts land dozens in jail

Dozens of people are being rounded up all over Turkey for wearing white T-shirts with the word “hero” printed in English across the front. The arrests are being carried out based on the suspicion that the wearers are sympathisers and supporters of Fethullah Gulen.

Global Dignity Day marked in Turkey

The Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) organized a number of activities in Turkey to mark the Annual Global Dignity Day, which is celebrated with Global Dignity-led events around the world with the participation of 350.000 young people across 50 countries.

Erdoğan’s house of cards

In a long statement, the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), whose honorary chair is Gülen, has called on the government to submit whatever evidence it has on conspiracies, such as those involving a “deep state” and “parallel structures” as well as accusations of “treason,” “espionage” and “collaboration with international powers” against the interests of Turkey. In other words, Gülen is standing firm and not blinking in the face of Erdoğan’s preposterous threats.

German view of Hizmet Movement (1)

I remember the late, right-minded orientalist Annemarie Schimmel’s words saying, “The most attacked and least understood religion in the West is Islam.” Today, we come across a similar statement in a recently published scholarly report too. I’m referring to the report titled, “Überdehnt sich die Bewegung von Fethullah Gülen?” by Stiftung für Wissenschaftund Politik (SWP), which put the Hizmet Movement under a scholarly microscope.

Int’l Gandhi Jayanti Conference on ‘Education as a Basic Right of Humankind’

One of the striking activities of Indialogue, is annual Gandhi Jayanti conference focusing each year on different trajectories of Gandhian thoughts and intellects. Research papers addressing Gandhi’s perspective and other treasured philosophical trends are invited from different academic disciplines.

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

Shut down schools, not tutoring facilities

Gülen movement forms supranational new elite

Fethullah Gülen versus Ayatollah Khomeini?

Guest post: Turkey and the problem of political continuity

Turkish IT Technician Found Dead While Fleeing To Greece

Turkey crackdown: deep unease in Fethullah Gulen’s home village

Bank Asya says raising capital, set for growth

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News