Pakistan’s top court upholds verdict to hand over FETÖ-linked schools to Turkey

ISLAMABAD

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on April 16 rejected a petition for a final review on its 2018 verdict to hand over the Pak-Turk International Cag Education Foundation (PTICEF) schools to Turkey’s Maarif Foundation.

In December 2018, the Supreme Court ruled and directed the Interior Ministry to declare PTICEF a “proscribed organization” and include its name in the list of terror groups on grounds that it was linked to FETÖ, which is listed as a terrorist organization believed to have been behind the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.

“Today the Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan has rejected the FETÖ review petition which they filed against the top court over last year’s verdict,” Mohammad Sohail Sajid, a local lawyer who filed the petition against FETÖ-linked schools in 2018, told Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency on April 16.

The court ruled that the school system belongs to Turkey and the state of Pakistan has already cancelled all No Objection Certificates and Memorandum of Understandings of the PTICEF.

All 28 schools had been handed over by Pakistani authorities to Maarif Foundation.

Turkey established the Maarif Foundation in 2016 after the coup attempt to take over the administration of overseas schools linked to FETÖ. It also establishes schools and education centers abroad.
Ankara accuses FETÖ of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.