Turkey’s government has reportedly asked Nigeria
to close down 17 Turkish schools in the West African country that it
says are linked to Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based cleric that Ankara
blames for the recent failed coup. Members of the Gulen Movement,
headed by the cleric, run about 300 schools in Turkey and over 1,000
worldwide.
The Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria,
Hakan Cakil, said that all schools linked to Gulen in Turkey had been
shut down. He added that it was “misleading” for the schools in
Nigeria to be referred to as Turkish, since they had nothing to do
with the government in Ankara, Nigeria’s Premium Times reported on
Thursday. Cakil claimed the schools were located in various cities
around the country, including the capital Abuja, the financial hub
Lagos, and the northern cities of Kano and Kaduna.
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Fethullah Gulen and Recep Tayyip
Erdogan Embroidered images of Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen (L) and
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) are pictured at a market
in Gaziantep, Turkey, January 17, 2014. Erdogan has blamed Gulen for
the failed coup that killed almost 250 people, which the U.S.-based
cleric has denied. OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images
A faction within the Turkish military
launched an attempted coup against the Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan on the night of July 15. Major bridges in Istanbul were
closed and military helicopters flew over the capital as the faction
declared that it had taken control of the country. At least 246
people died during the coup, and more than 2,000 were injured.
Gulen and his followers were blamed for
the coup, with Erdogan accusing them of attempting to create a
“parallel structure” in the country’s institutions, including
the police, judiciary, media and armed forces. Gulen, who is based in
Pennsylvania, condemned the coup and denied Erdoğan’s accusations
. The cleric has a wide support base in Turkey and a network of
private schools stretching across 140 countries.
The ambassador made his comments during
a visit from Nigerian senator Shehu Sani, the vice-chairman of the
Senate Committee on Foreign affairs in Nigeria. Cakil said that he
had contacted Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama and the
chief of staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari, to request
the closure of the schools.
“This is an issue that the Turkish
government has attached so much importance [to],” said Cakil, who
claimed that the schools were raising funds for “illegal
activities.” “This is a matter of national security for us in
Turkey. I have instructions from my government to follow up this
matter and we will be very happy to obtain the support of Nigerian
legislators on that issue,” he said.
The Nigerian senator did not say
categorically whether the schools would be close but said that Turkey
had a right to be concerned about its security. Sani urged the
Turkish ambassador to “use the instrument of democracy, liberty and
constitutional right[s] to bring to book” those suspected of
involvement in the coup.
Erdoğan’s government is carrying out
a massive crackdown on Gulen’s supporters. The government has
placed tens of thousands of people under suspension or investigation
since the coup, and on Wednesday dismissed almost 1,700 military
personnel and closed 131 media outlets.
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