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

Tags: | | | |


Related News

Turkish school honored with state medal in Laos

Laos, officially the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, has honored a Turkish school, the Eastern Star Bilingual School, with its highest state medal for the school’s excellent performance in an international olympiad. The medal was bestowed upon the school by the republic’s president, Choummaly Sayasone, and was presented at a ceremony hosted by the Ministry of […]

Survey shows Turkish gov’t seized at least $11 billion of company assets over Gülen links

Turkish government has transferred about 49,4 billion liras ($11 billion) of assets of 1,124 companies seized from those who have alleged affiliation to the Gülen movement to a special fund under a crackdown that began following a controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

Nigerian students lament harassment, detention by Turkish authorities

No fewer than 50 Nigerians attending private schools in Turkey, including Fatih University, were recently deported by that country after the coup attempt. Nigeria had ignored calls by the Turkish government to close down 17 Turkish schools in the country. The Turkish government alleged that the schools were linked to Fethullah Gülen.

An interesting debate in the European Parliament

It is known that European parliamentarians already talk to people close to Hizmet, so this refusal was interesting. It can even give the impression that the Turkish government is putting pressure on the EP. Of course, Turkey hasn’t that kind of power; if we did, we would have become an EU member years ago. The other impression is that the Hizmet movement is trying to influence the EP’s work.

Zeki Saritoprak speaks on Gulen Movement at Chautauqua Institution

Zeki Saritoprak is the Nursi Chair in Islamic Studies at John Carroll University and delivered an Interfaith Lecture on Gülen and his Hizmet movement. Saritoprak also gave a brief outline of Turkish history, from the start of the Ottoman Empire to the founding of the Republic of Turkey. “Muslims have to establish … not religious […]

Failed coup in Turkey hits Albany’s Turkish Cultural Center

A failed military coup in Turkey in July continues to reverberate locally with the layoff of the only paid employee at the Turkish Cultural Center of Albany and cuts in its programs, which include language and cooking classes.

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

A rift between the Hizmet movement and the AK Party?

[Cafe Capital] Excessive attempts to manipulate people’s perceptions to backfire

Hizmet really has expanded my understanding of what it means to be human.

Erdogan’s Journey – Conservatism and Authoritarianism in Turkey

Archbishop Fitzgerald: Fethullah Gülen has inspired many Muslims to be engaged in interfaith dialogue

Man dies of heart attack while on way to help Turkish refugees in Greece

Recruiting based on ‘color lists’ breach of Constitution

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News