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

Why Gulen-sympathizers with their babies risk death to flee Erdogan regime

There is a reason why Turks risk death to flee with their babies. It’s not that they are looking for a better life. They are fleeing torture and life imprisonment.

Post-coup purge will affect Turkey’s education sector for decades

With more than 120,000 public workers suspended and nearly 40,000 people in prison, the aftermath of Turkey’s failed July 15 coup is being felt across every part of society, including its highest-ranked schools. The day after the coup attempt, 1,577 deans — working at nearly every university in the country — were forced to resign. An estimated 200,000 students were left in limbo after the closure of 15 universities and 1,043 private schools.

Gülen’s lawyer likens hate campaign against his client to Nazi era

Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen’s attorney Nurullah Albayrak said the smear campaign targeting his client to marginalize him has peaked, stressing that the hate speech Gülen has been subjected to for months is comparable to Nazi era discriminatory practices.

Call for Papers – International Gandhi Jayanti Conference 2015

Education is at the heart of the core problems of a society, potential solutions for making a healthy society and for peace building as well. Education is the key to eliminating gender inequality, to reducing poverty, to creating a sustainable planet, to preventing needless deaths and illness, and to fostering peace.

Is Hizmet being subjected to genocide? (2)

In a recently leaked voice recording, which was not denied by those involved in it, Erdoğan’s son, Bilal, tells his father that an operation should be launched against the Hizmet movement. All these incidents indicate that the ruling party has used and will use laws in accordance with Erdoğan’s plans. Thus, a group cannot be destroyed solely with mass killings. It can be destroyed also with unfair and unlawful practices by passing specific laws, as we saw in many cases in the past.

İstanbul woman suffers miscarriage in police custody

Büşra Atalay, a Turkish woman who has previously been dismissed from her job over alleged Gülen links, lost her unborn child when she was detained and interrogated at an İstanbul hospital on Thursday.

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

Plot to discredit Gülen makes its way into espionage indictment in Germany

Mother’s Day takes on a new meaning with Kimse Yok Mu

Turkish Schools in Africa

Calgary man accused of helping plot Turkish coup

‘A bridge should not demolish other bridges,’ says scholar Gülen

Thais demand more Turkish Schools during their visit in Turkey

Is the Gulen Movement a Threat to the Turkish Government?

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News