Turkish Schools in Nigeria Disassociate Self from Coup Attempt

Turkish schools in Nigeria, owned by the Hizmet movement in Nigeria whose leader Fetullah Gulen is allegedly the mastermind of the failed July 15 2016, coup, have denied being a part of the attempt to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

This was said in a statement made by Mr. Kamil Kermanchi, the president of the Ufuk dialogue (part of the Hizmet group) while addressing bloggers in Abuja earlier in the week. Mr. Kermanchi condemned the attempted coup and reiterated that there is no place for military interventions in democracy.

Contrary to the accusations of the Turkish government, Mr. Kermanchi said that the movement has always supported the development of the Turkish government.
He showed the many literature written and published by Fethulla Gulen as proof that the Hizmet group has always advocated for peace and democracy for more than 40 years and that education is one of the platforms that has been used to achieve this feat. He  expressed grave concerns about being used by the Turkish government to cover up their dubious deeds.

The Turkish government in a recent statement via the Turkish ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Hakan Cakil, notified the Federal Government of Nigeria of 'the existence of schools owned by suspected terrorists' and requested that they should be shut down'

In response to the request, spokes person for the Nigerian Turkish International Colleges (NTIC), Mr. Cemal Yigit said that the statement made by the ambassador 'contained misleading information' and thus they owed it to Nigerians to expose the ulterior motives of the Turkish ambassador in the said statement. Mr. Yigit urged Nigerians to ignore and disregard the statement. He added that the schools are fully functional and will continue to be.

The Hizmet movement own 17 educational institutions in Nigeria including the prestigious Turkish Nile University and the Nigerian-Turkish International school which has branches in several states in Nigeria.

CIAO