Le Monde: Ankara offered Senegalese government $7.5 million to transfer Yavuz Selim educational group to Maarif


Date posted: December 12, 2017

Parents of Senegalese children attending schools run by followers of U.S.-based Turkish preacher Fethullah Gülen – the man blamed for last year’s coup attempt in Turkey – are worried by reports these schools could be handed over to Turkish government control, news website Quartz said.

“I don’t even know who Gülen or (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdoğan are,” mother Oury Mbaye told the website following reports her child’s school could be handed over to the Turkish government-controlled Maarif Foundation.

“If they are imposing managers on me that have no experience in education, I will transfer my children to a French school. I did not choose Maarif, and they won’t impose anything on me.”

Erdoğan’s Islamist government used to see the Gülen religious movement’s overseas educational activities as a way to project Turkish soft power. But the group fell out dramatically with the government in 2013, when prosecutors said to be linked to the movement began investigating ministers on corruption charges.

The Turkish government now considers the group a terrorist organisation and accuses it of masterminding the failed 2016 coup attempt.

Le Monde newspaper said Ankara had offered the Senegalese government $7.5 million to transfer the Yavuz Selim educational group to Maarif.

But Education Minister Serigne Mbaye Thiam denied the report, saying that Senegal had only licensed Maarif to be able to set up its own schools, Quartz said.

Source: Ahvalnews , December 11, 2017

Tags: | | | | |


Related News

Gülen chair holder praises movement’s focus on education

Professor Johan Leman, the holder of Fethullah Gülen Chair at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium has said the Gülen movement is a perfect partner for him to work with.

Plot against Gülen movement put into action based on lies, false confessions

An alleged secret plot against members of the faith-based Gülen movement — inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, which became public last year, is being put into action step by step based on questionable testimonies obtained from secret witnesses, informants and anonymous complainants leading to criminal prosecutions apparently orchestrated by political authorities.

Turkey’s post-coup crackdown moves overseas

In several cases, Turkey has offered to run the seized institutions, although it is expected to face legal challenges. Kimse Yok Mu, which had more than 200,000 volunteers in 100 countries before being forcibly closed after the coup attempt, is understood to be preparing to take the decision to international courts. Joshua Hendrick, an expert on the Gulen movement said Ankara faced a big challenge when it came to stepping into the shoes of its former allies.

Afghan minister: Afghanistan will continue to support Turkish schools

Samim said: “Afghanistan has been going through a very difficult period over the last 30 years. Everything has been overturned by the civil war, bringing the state to a near-collapse with internal conflicts. During this period, Turkey has always been with us. They [Turkish volunteers] came and opened Turkish schools. The first Hizmet [the faith-based Hizmet movement]-affiliated school was opened in the country 20 years ago.

Third suspicious disappearance in a week: Teacher dismissed in post-coup crackdown not seen for 14 days

Cengiz Usta, a 44-year-old teacher who was dismissed from his post as part of the Turkish government’s post-coup purge of state-institutions, has been missing since Apr 4, joining two other education professionals who are claimed to have been abducted in the same week.

PM Basindawa opens new campus of Turkish-Yemeni School

SANA’A, Oct. 21, 2012 A Yemeni-Turkish School was opened Saturday in the Aser neighborhood of Sana’a in the presence of a slew of Turkish and Yemeni government officials. The school, which is largely a symbolic gesture of the continued friendly relationship between the two nations, was funded by Turkish businessmen and began construction in February […]

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

You are free to touch Hizmet movement

Hatred-inciting discourses and the debate on ‘genocide and crime against humanity’

Abant Platform on Africa

Is it struggle between AK Party and Hizmet?

Local officials, volunteers launch expanded effort to help Syrian refugees

Was there a sincere alliance between the Gulen Movement and Erdogan?

Turkish schools in Mali stay open despite conflict

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News