Municipal police removes Gülenist prep school’s signboards

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

AA Photo

Istanbul Municipality officials have removed the signboards of a private prep school (dershane) due to a “lack of permissions,” in a midnight operation in Istanbul’s Şişli district on June 25.

The municipal police started to remove the signboards of FEM Dershanesi, part of a chain of prep schools known for its ties with the movement of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, on the grounds that it had not received the necessary permissions from the municipality.

It has also been reported that other signboards belonging to other firms in the same six storey building will also be removed for the same reason.

The removal of two FEM Dershanesi signboards was done with the help of firemen and started at around 1.30 a.m. on the morning of June 25, continuing until around 7.00 a.m.

 Murat Dinç, the head of the prep school, said they were told that the signboards put up without permission would be removed. “I asked why they started from this building and our signboards in particular. They said they would remove all of them but started from here,” said Dinç.

All firms have to receive permission for all of their public signboards from the local municipality.

The rift between the Turkish government and the Gülen movement widened after the government last year decided to close down all private prep schools, a large number of which are owned by Gülen movement affiliates.