Slandering Turkish schools is treason according to well-known politician

Yılma Durak, a well-known right-wing nationalist who was tortured in jail during the coup era, stated that slandering the Turkish schools opened by the Hizmet Movement, is treason, commenting on an order by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Turkish ambassadors to slander Turkish schools.

Speaking during the annual gathering of ambassadors on January 15 in Ankara, Erdoğan labeled the corruption investigation involving former government ministers nothing but a “treacherous plot” to sabotage Turkey's international standing and ordered Turkish ambassadors serving abroad to "tell the truth" to their foreign interlocutors. Without openly naming it, Erdoğan has accused the Hizmet movement led by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen and “its foreign collaborators” of attempting to overthrow his government through a “judicial coup” ever since the corruption probe that shook his government became public on Dec. 17 following a wave of detentions.
In an interview with the Cihan news agency, Durak showed reaction to Erdoğan’s order to the ambassadors and he visited some of the Turkish schools in foreign countries. “Children of prime ministers and presidents and high-level bureaucrats are sent to these schools opened in Africa and many parts of the world… Many significant people are given education in these schools. I am of the opinion denouncing these schools to the ambassadors instead of supporting them is equal to treason,” said Durak.

Durak further stated that he remember Erdoğan praised Turkish Olympiads, whose participants are students from Turkish schools, however he says the exact opposite, which is highly confusing.

The Turkish Olympiads are considered the most important activity of the Turkish schools established abroad by entrepreneurs affiliated with the Hizmet movement. This movement is inspired by the teachings and ideas of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

Published on Cihan, 13 February 2014, Thursday