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

German ambassador: Berlin does not recognize Gülen movement as ‘terrorist’ group

German Ambassador to Turkey Martin Erdmann has said his country’s judiciary does not recognize the Gülen movement as a terrorist organization and that Turkey should present credible evidence of criminal activity to Germany for the extradition of Gülen-linked individuals.

Turkey’s Erdogan and July 15 coup

Like many autocratic leaders, Erdogan was quick to blame members of opposition and  sympathizers of Gulen Movement  for the coup attempt. He particularly singled out the United States-based Turkish cleric, Fethullah Gulen as the mastermind of the coup, even when it is on record that the highly-respected cleric publicly condemned the coup when it was still on.

Misrepresentation of Fethullah Gülen in English-language media

The language in general and the way certain politically significant words are used in some of this media coverage are somewhat problematic in the sense that they fail to present the full picture about Gülen, if not deliberately create doubts and prejudices about him.

Erdogan vs the Gulen movement

A little piece of Turkey sits in Midrand, north of Johannesburg, in the form of the breathtaking Nizamiye mosque – built as a replica of the famous Selimiye mosque of Edirne, with its myriad blue and white tiles. President Jacob Zuma officially opened the mosque in 2012, which was built and funded by the unassuming Islamic philanthropist known as Uncle Ali.

Turkish police detain 35 lawyers for ‘defending’ Gülen sympathizers

This latest move against the Gulen sympathizers is a violation of a basic right of the suspects, who are still legally innocent until proven guilty, to defend themselves at the courts. It is clear that Erdogan regime leaves the suspects no room to defend themselves at the courts.

Bank Asya says it weathers ‘stress test’, still strong

Turkish media say state-owned companies and institutional depositors loyal to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have withdrawn TL 4 billion ($1.79 billion), some 20 percent of the bank’s total deposits, over the last month to try to sink the lender. The government has declined to comment. Bank Asya’s chief executive Ahmet Beyaz said the bank’s founders included sympathizers of cleric Fethullah Gülen, who officials say is behind the corruption investigation posing one of the biggest challenges to Erdoğan’s 11-year rule. But he said the bank was not at risk.

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

Thousands of Pakistanis have cataract surgery courtesy of Kimse Yok Mu

Turkish Cultural Center holds friendship dinner

Becoming a Dialogue Movement: What Can Dialogue Learn from Other Movements?

Kurds, Turkey and growing with Öcalan’s help?

Rumi Forum Fellowship Program 2015

Love and Tolerance Conference, Abuja

Public ad budget unfairly allocated to pro-gov’t media

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News