Turkey to change curriculum of former Gülen schools abroad

KONYA – Anadolu Agency

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Significant changes will soon be made to the curriculum of Turkish schools abroad, which have been taken over from the network of Fethullah Gülen, the U.S. based preacher widely believed to have orchestrated the July 2016 coup attempt, according to the chairman of the Maarif (Education) Foundation.      

“We will be offering a substantial teaching of the Turkish language. There will be Turkish prep classes,” Cem Zorlu, the head of the authority that took over the schools, said Jan. 10. 

Noting that the language of instruction was French in Africa-based schools and English elsewhere, Zorlu told Anadolu Agency that the goal was to ensure that school graduates were able to speak and write in two foreign languages.

All changes to the curriculum would be “in line with the requests of the authorities of respective countries, and parents,” he said, adding the changes would be implemented as soon as relevant processes were completed for the schools in some 50 countries.      

“We took over the schools in Guinea, and signed memorandums of understanding with the governments of Chad, Somalia, Sudan, Senegal, Gabon, Mauritania and Niger. Negotiations are still ongoing [for the schools] in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Thailand, Cambodia, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Iraq, northern Iraq, Moldova, Uganda, Australia, Indonesia and Azerbaijan,” he said.

Ankara says the Fethullah Gülen Terror Organization (FETÖ) was both behind the foiled bloody coup and has been running a long-term campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.        

The network is also known for its network of hundreds of schools around the world.      

So far, over 80 Gülenist organizations operating abroad, including schools and training centers, have been shut down or transferred to the Turkish government.