Iraq’s Kurdish gov’t declines to shut FETÖ-linked schools

ARBIL - Anadolu Agency

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq said on Aug. 4 that it would not close 20 schools affiliated with the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) led by U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.        
In a statement, the KRG’s Education Ministry denied earlier media reports that it planned to close the FETÖ-linked “Işık” (light) schools, which provide education to almost 13,000 students in the region.    
    
The ministry stressed the KRG had not instructed the schools to be closed. 

“The general benefit of the students is valued above everything else,” it asserted, adding that the schools’ doors would remain open until further notice.        

FETÖ has several educational institutions in the KRG, including some in the cities of Arbil, Sulaymaniyah, Dohuk and Halabja while FETÖ’s Devran FM radio station broadcasts from Arbil.