Turkey takes over 12 Gülen-linked schools, 3 tuition centers in Afghanistan

KABUL

The Turkish Maarif Foundation, a state-run education foundation, has taken over 12 schools and three tuition centers linked to the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) in Afghanistan. 

Education Minister İsmet Yılmaz and his Afghan counterpart Mohammad Ibrahim Shinwari attended a handover ceremony at the Media and Information Center in capital Kabul on Feb. 26, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Yılmaz said during the handover ceremony that they would apply a discount to the school fees, with Turkey spending the “money received from the schools” back on the Afghan education system.

“We would like, especially in the area of education, to develop our cooperation [with Afghanistan]. The joy of the Afghan people is our joy, and their pain is ours. We’ll not allow anyone to damage and poison our eternal friendship,” Yılmaz said, adding that Turkey wished for the stability of Afghanistan more than any other country in the world.

Turkey established the Maarif Foundation in 2016 to take over the administration of overseas schools linked to the FETÖ. It also establishes schools and education centers abroad.

The FETÖ is widely believed to have orchestrated the failed coup of July 2016, which left 250 people dead and nearly 2,200 injured.