Following the 15th July Coup attempt in Turkey, the Turkish government has been cracking down on those suspected to be behind it.
Thousands of soldiers, journalists, teachers etc. were arrested within days of the failed coup.
However, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan placed most of the blame on Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, currently exiled in the US. Turkey told the US to hand him over but that is yet to happen.
Gülen is a former Erdoğan ally but is now opposed to him.
He now Hizmet Movement, an organization that owns hundreds of schools in more than 160 countries.
The Turkish government is now making requests to foreign nations to shut down all schools associated with Gülen.
The same request has been made to Kenya, but the government has not acted on it. “Turkish officials have requested Kenya to shut down the Gülenist schools on a number of occasions before the attempted coup but the Kenyan government has not acted on them,” a source told Reuters.
Here in Kenya, the schools operate under the name Light Academy and Light International School. They are six in total located in Nairobi, Mombasa and Malindi. They offer both 8-4-4 and the British curriculum.
President Uhuru sent an encouragement letter to President Erdoğan after the failed coup, but it is unlikely that he can go as far as shutting down schools.
Somalia on the other hand acted very quickly. Within hours of the Turkish government request, all institutions associated with Fethullah Gülen were shut down. The war-torn country has received a lot of aid from Turkey in recent years.
Source: Nairobi Wire
