Turkish teachers with alleged Gülen links detained in Afghanistan

KABUL - Reuters

One Afghan and three Turkish teachers linked to the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) were detained by Afghan intelligence officials on Dec. 12, the organization’s head said. 

Afghan Turk CAG Educational NGO (ATCE) runs schools in several cities including the capital, Kabul, Mazar-i-Sharif, Kandahar and Herat and has been in Afghanistan since 1995.

“Around 7 a.m., four of our teachers traveling in two different cars were picked up by [Afghan intelligence],” said ATCE chair Human Erdoğan.

Other intelligence officials later went to the group’s girls’ school nearby looking for another teacher, Erdoğan said.

He said the men presented themselves as members of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Afghanistan’s intelligence agency.

Neither the NDS nor the Afghan government immediately responded to requests for comment.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was on his way to Istanbul on Dec. 12 to attend the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Summit.

In March, Afghanistan ordered the schools to be transferred to a foundation approved by Ankara.

Last year, shortly before a visit to Islamabad by the Turkish president, Pakistan ordered Turkish teachers at schools run by a body called PakTurk International Schools and Colleges to leave the country.