Turkish ambassador draws ire as she implies Gülen-affiliated schools in Macedonia raise terrorists


Date posted: May 10, 2018

Turkish Ambassador to Macedonia Tülin Betül Kara, has drawn ire following she made remarks last week that shocked the country about schools linked to the faith-based Gülen movement operating there, implying that they were raising students to be terrorists, according to a report by online news outlet Romanya Haber.

Speaking at a Turkish government-backed Maarif Foundation school in Tetovo province, Kara said on May 5: “Let’s all register our children in these schools. As parents, if we do not want our kids to be terrorists, we should prefer these schools.”

Following her remarks, Zerijeta Jajaga, a Macedonian journalist, on May 8 posted a statement on Facebook saying her two children study at the Gülen movement affiliated Yahya Kemal School and that she is proud of them. Other parents joined Jajaga on social media, sharing their children’s photographs.

The Macedonia Education Ministry weighed in on the issue by issuing a statement, according to the portalb.mk news website, saying that the Maarif Foundation’s school was not yet accredited by the country’s education system. Regarding the ambassador’s remarks, it only said, “We do not comment on ambassadors’ remarks.”

Another Macedonian news outlet, tetovasot.com, also covered the issue, highlighting that Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev’s grandson is also a student at the Yahya Kemal School.

As a part of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s witch-hunt against the Gülen movement abroad, the Maarif Foundation, which was established by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government in 2016, has taken over 76 schools linked to the Gülen movement in 10 countries.

 

Source: Stockholm Center for Freedom , May 9, 2018


Related News

Turkey: Detained higher education professionals at risk of torture

Scholars at Risk (SAR) is gravely concerned about sweeping actions against Turkey’s higher education sector, including most recently prolonged incommunicado detention and related risks of torture and ill-treatment of hundreds of higher education professionals, in violation of Turkey’s obligations under domestic and international law.

In Erdogan regime western-oriented intellectuals, bureaucrats, liberals, Kurds, civil society activists in mortal danger

Those in prison—educated, Western-oriented intellectuals and bureaucrats, liberals, Kurds, civil society activists, and supporters of exiled cleric Fethullah Gülen—are in mortal danger. When blood flows from the prisons, it will be no accident nor should anyone believe Erdogan’s security forces were simply reacting to a crisis.

ABA urges Obama to protest Turkey’s suppression of free speech

On September 1, the American Booksellers Association joined American publishers, authors, and librarians in a letter urging President Obama to protest the widespread suppression of free speech in Turkey during his September 4 meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan in China.

US Human Rights Report: Tens of thousands jailed in Turkey with little clarity on charges

The 2016 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices — the Human Rights Reports — released by the US State Department on Friday said that Turkish courts had imprisoned tens of thousands of people with little clarity on charges and evidence over their alleged links with a failed coup in July 2016 that was blamed on the Gülen movement.

AfSV Statement on the Turkish government’s detainment of Kutbettin Gülen

News of the detention of Kutbettin Gülen, the brother of Fethullah Gülen, is as unsurprising as it is troubling, and it is yet the latest example of the Turkish government’s persecution of innocent citizens in the wake of the July 15 coup attempt. Kutbettin Gülen has been detained on trumped-up charges used by President Tayyip Erdoğan’s administration to silence dissent and cement his autocratic hold on power.

Young environmentalists awarded at 22nd INEPO

Young environmentalists from different corners of the world who attended the 22nd International Environmental Project Olympiad (INEPO) to find solutions to environmental problems and thus make the world a better place to live have been awarded gold, silver and bronze medals.

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

Interview with Kimse Yok Mu Foundation’s President Ismail Cingoz

Al-Azhar has examined and approved all the works of Mr. Gulen

Targeted by Erdoğan, Turkish schools earn praise, offer success abroad

Desmond Tutu commends Gulen inspired organization

GYV warns on provocative remarks, urges respect for peaceful protests

Bad news for Erdoğan’s lawyers in the US

Turkish Islamic scholar Gülen loses 72-year-old brother

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News