Turkey wants Nigeria to close 17 schools in coup clampdown

The Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria, Hakan Cakil, has called on the Federal Government to close 17 Turkish schools in Nigeria over alleged links with a movement his government says was involved in the July 15 failed coup attempt in Turkey.

Sen. Shehu Sani (R) with Ambassador of Turkey, Ambassador Hakan Cakil, during the Senator's visit to condole the Ambassador over the recent coup attempt in that country, in Abuja on Thursday

The ambassador, who made the call when the vice chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Shehu Sani, paid him a courtesy visit, said the schools are not owned by Turkish Government but by a US-based movement "Fethullah Gulen" which was responsible for the failed coup attempt, which claimed over 200 lives.

 “We are requesting the Nigerian Government to close down the schools. “I have requested officially, both orally and in writing, the closure of these schools. Also, I have sent a letter to Mr Geoffrey Onyeama (Foreign Affairs Minister) and Mr Abba Kyari (Chief of Staff to the President) about this subject and requested their support for the closure of the schools. “I will also send letters to the Chairmen of Committees on Foreign Affairs in the National Assembly, as well as the Senate Majority Leader over the issue and I am going to enclose some documents in English on how the group members are engaged in the army, police and the Judiciary. “In Nigeria, there are 17 schools, which belong to the Gulen Movement, one in Kano, one in Kaduna, one in Abuja, Lagos etc and they are offering scholarships. “We are starting some legal procedures to take the name of Turkish out of the name of the schools. They are not the schools of the Turkish Government. “They are misleading the public and allocating scholarships to the children of the high bureaucracy and after they graduate from school, they send the children to Turkey to attend their universities,’’ he said.