'African countries see FETO as threat to security'

By Tufan Aktas and Felix Tih

ADDIS ABABA

African countries see the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) as a threat to their internal security and have started taking action against the organization, officials have indicated.

Turkey has warned African countries against FETO, which Ankara holds responsible for the attempted coup which martyred at least 248 people and wounded around 2,200 others.

"Many countries have started taking action against the organization. We started initiatives to get the African Union to put FETO on their terror list," Hasan Yavuz, the deputy chairman of Turkey's Maarif (Education) Foundation told Anadolu Agency on Monday.

Last year, Turkey created the Maarif Foundation to establish schools and education centers abroad.

Yavuz said the goal was not only to take over the FETO-linked schools but to open new ones, especially on the African continent.

FETO, led by U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen, is accused of running hundreds of schools, charity and nongovernmental organizations globally, and has been blamed by Turkey orchestrating the defeated coup of July last year.

The government has launched widespread initiatives worldwide to shut down such institutions or take control of them.

Higher education

The Maarif Foundation has already signed many agreements to transfer FETO linked schools to the foundation in many African countries including Guinea, and Somalia, he said.

Yavuz said that countries such as Angola, and Morocco have closed the schools because they saw FETO as a "threat to their internal security".

"FETO is trying to make propaganda against Turkey in these countries," he said. " schools will be the bridges between Turkey and Africa."

Yavuz also said that in the future his organization will work alongside organizations such as the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB), the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency Presidency (TIKA) and the Yunus Emre Institute.

He added that the foundation has the authority to open an educational institution from the pre-school to the university level without regard to the continent difference.

"Our foundation is going to open primary, secondary and higher education institutions [...] and will endeavor to educate people in an ethical, honest and successful manner [...] to serve their own countries first.

"It is important to remember that in Africa each country is acting according to its internal dynamics," he said.

80 FETO-linked organizations shut down

According to Yavuz, his organization has taken control of 18 schools, 12 buildings and 10 student dormitories in Somalia, and Niger.

Senegal, Mauritania, Chad, Gabon, Burkina Faso and Sao Tome have signed an agreement regarding the handover of FETO-linked schools.

The Maarif Foundation is currently negotiating with Uganda, and Mozambique, and is set to visit 14 more countries in the near future, he added.

So far, over 80 FETO-linked organizations operating abroad have been shut down or transferred to the Turkish government.