02 October 2017•Update: 02 October 2017
By Alpha Kamara
DAKAR, Senegal
Schools in Senegal linked to Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind last year’s defeated coup in Turkey, were closed by the government on Monday.
The West African country's Interior Ministry ordered the 15 schools in the chain known as Yavuz Selim closed, with police guarding the shuttered schools in the capital Dakar.
“I am urging all parents to keep their kids at home, as the schools will remain closed,” Interior Minister Aly Ngouille Ndiaye told local daily Walfajiri.
The order follows Turkish officials calling for the closure of all the schools in Africa that are linked to the FETO, which orchestrated the defeated coup attempt of July 15, 2016 in Turkey which left 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.
Ankara also accuses FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, including the military, police, judiciary, and schools.
FETO also has a considerable presence outside Turkey, including private educational institutions that serve as a revenue stream for the terrorist group.
According to a report this May by the Turkish Intelligence Organization (MIT), FETO is believed to have around 1,000 schools and institutions of higher education worldwide.
The Maarif Foundation, founded by Turkey, has been assisting in over a dozen African countries to transition former FETO schools into its hands, to provide a high-quality education to local children.
