INFOGRAPHIC - Turkey keeps FETO schools overseas under close watch

By Selma Kasap

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey’s Maarif Foundation will become a global brand in overseas education, according to Education Minister Ismet Yilmaz Thursday.

“We want the Turkish Maarif Foundation to become a global education brand. So, as government, we will provide it all kinds of support,” Yilmaz told Anadolu Agency.

Last year, Turkey created the Maarif Foundation to establish schools and education centers abroad.

The foundation has already taken control of all educational institutions affiliated with Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) from 11 countries out of 688 schools in 113 countries, according to the minister.

FETO, which is accused of running hundreds of schools, charity foundations and nongovernmental organizations globally, has been blamed by Turkey of orchestrating the defeated coup of July last year.

The government has launched wide-spread initiatives worldwide to shut down such institutions or take control of them.

All such schools in Somalia, Guinea, Niger and three new schools in Syrian border city of Jarabulus who had been taken over by Turkey have begun their new education session for 2017, Yilmaz said.

The foundation has also made agreements to take control of FETO-linked schools in Senegal, Mauritania, Chad, Gabon, Sao Tome, Burkina Faso, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Yilmaz noted the foundation has been working in close cooperation with the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA), the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB), Yunus Emre Foundation, local authority, business organizations, NGOs, charity organizations, Turkish expats and people from brotherly and friendly countries.

“To reach its aim of becoming a shining face of Turkey, the Maarif Foundation plans to open educational institutions in 20 countries per year,” he added.

Deserving students of such schools will also be given an opportunity to take internship, in-service training and postgraduate education in Turkey.

The foundation will also build and manage dormitories in countries with large numbers of Turkish students.

The minister said the foundation will also organize educational and rehabilitation programs for children of Turkish nationals abroad.

According to official data, Asia has the largest number of FETO-linked schools; 32 countries of the continent contain 242 schools.

Europe comes next with 175 schools in 35 countries while America follows with 150 schools in 9 countries; Africa with 106 schools in 36 countries and Australia with 15 schools.

So far, the foundation has taken control of all FETO-linked schools in Guinea, Somalia and Niger between October 2016 and December in 2016. Moreover, it opened three new schools in northern Syrian city of Jarabulus.

Eight more countries -- Senegal, Mauritania, Chad, Gabon, Sao Tome, Burkina Faso, Pakistan and Afghanistan -- have agreed to handover all FETO schools to the foundation.

The foundation is also carrying out intensive negotiations with 17 countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, India, Albania, Thailand, Cambodia, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Australia, Denmark, Northern Iraq, Moldova, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Malaysia, France, Germany, Romania and Sudan over taking administrative control of FETO-linked schools.

The foundation plans to visit following countries to discuss the issue with local authorities: Angola, Azerbaijan, Benin, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Morocco, Georgia, Japan, Cameroon, Montenegro, Lebanon, Mali, Mongolia, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and Jordan.

The minister also said Ethiopia was the latest country which had agreed to handover FETO-linked schools to Maarif Foundation.