Hakan made this call
yesterday when Shehu Sani, vice-chairman, senate committee on foreign affairs,
paid him a courtesy visit.
“We are requesting the
Nigerian government to close down the schools,” he said.
“I have requested
officially, both orally and in writing, the closure of these schools. Also, I
have sent a letter to Mr Geoffrey Onyeama (foreign minister) and Mr Abba Kyari (chief
of staff to the president) about this subject and requested their support for
the closure of the schools.
“I will also send letters
to the chairmen of committees on foreign affairs in the national assembly as
well as the senate majority leader over the issue and I am going to enclose
some documents in English on how the group members are engaged in the army,
police and the judiciary.
“In Nigeria, there are 17
schools, which belong to the Gulen Movement, one in Kano, one in Kaduna, one in
Abuja, Lagos etc and they are offering scholarships.
“We are starting some legal
procedures to take the name of Turkish out of the name of the schools. They are
not the schools of the Turkish government.
“They are misleading the
public and allocating scholarships to the children of the high bureaucracy and
after they graduate from school, they send the children to Turkey to attend
their universities.”
The ambassador said the
Turkish government had closed down all schools linked to the movement in
Turkey.
“Turkish government has
already closed down all primary, secondary, high schools and universities owned
by the group in Turkey,” he said.
“In our system, it is
allowed for the foundation to establish schools if they fulfill some
requirements and that is how they established these schools. This is an issue
that the Turkish government has attached so much importance.
“Recently, my minister
called Mr Onyeama and briefed him about these schools because they are raising
funds through the schools and they are using these funds for the illegal
activities.
“This is a matter of
national security for us in Turkey. I have instructions from my government to
follow up this matter and we will be very happy to obtain the support of
Nigerian legislators on that issue.
“I will take the matter up
to the federal executive council. I have also requested an audience with the
minister of education. You may be aware that the government of Turkey started
to investigate those responsible for the coup attempt.
“It is really clear that the
Gulen Movement is behind the coup. There are some testimonies by detained
military officials.
“They are confessing that
they are in connection with the Gulen Movement and they have been members of
the Gulen Movement for a long time and they have been planning this coup for a
long time, nearly five months.
“The government of Turkey
has started to take some legal actions against the leader of the movement. He
is now based in the United States. His extradition is a legal matter between
turkey and United States.”
On the relations between
Nigeria and Turkey, the ambassador expressed optimism that the trade between
the two countries, which declined due to the drop in oil price, would pick up
soon.
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