Djibouti gives go-ahead for Turkish schools

By Addis Getachew and Tufan Aktas

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia

The government of Djibouti and Turkey's Maarif (Education) Foundation have signed an agreement enabling the latter to establish schools in the Horn of Africa nation, a Turkish official told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday.

Hasan Yavuz, the deputy chairman of the Maarif Foundation said that they had received a building that would house a kindergarten and elementary school to go operational in September this year.

The agreement also gives Maarif a plot of land stretching to five hectares to construct another educational complex. Maarif will also open a language school to teach its staff French, the official language in Djibouti.

Signing the Memorandum of Understanding were Yavuz, Tuncay Cilesiz , the president of the Africa Department in the Maarif Foundation and Moustapha Mohamed Mahamoud, Djibouti's Education Minister.

This will be the first new school by Maarif in Africa in addition to the other schools it has been tasked to take over.

The Maarif Foundation was established after the July 2016 coup attempt to take over the administration of overseas schools linked to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), which is behind the defeated coup that left at least 248 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Maarif foundation also establishes schools and education centers abroad.

Many African countries including Senegal, Mauritania, Chad, Gabon, Burkina Faso, Sao Tome, Guinea, Niger and Somalia have signed agreements regarding the handover of FETO-linked schools, Yavuz told Anadolu Agency last month.

Negotiations are ongoing with Uganda, Tanzania and Mozambique, he added.

So far, over 80 FETO organizations operating abroad, including schools and training centers, have been shut down or transferred to the Turkish government.

Ethiopia promises to heed the call

There have been reports by local and international media operating in Ethiopia that FETO-linked schools that the Turkish government wanted transferred to Maarif were sold to an unnamed German organization.

Asked about the matter, Ethiopian authorities have denied knowledge of any sale of Turkish schools to a third party.

Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome Wirtu pledged during his January visit to Turkey that Ethiopia would transfer Turkish schools to Maarif.