In an interview with journalist Erion Kaçorri, Turkish Ambassador Hidayet Bayraktar once again attacked the educational institutions linked to the charity network of the Islamic scholar in exile Fethullah Gülen.
We don’t refer to these schools as Gülen’s but FETO’s. As you know there are in Albania 2 universities, 5 madrassas, 5 so-called colleges, and 1 foreign language center, so in total 13 FETO schools.
He also stressed that the Turkish state does not recognize diplomas given by these schools.
Turkey has put increasing pressure on Albania to support the paranoid crackdown of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on anyone supposed to be associated with the exiled Gülen.
In November, the Ministry of Education and Sports issued a directive prohibiting the usage of Turkish national symbols on the 13 educational institutions linked to Gülen, as well as the usage of “Turkish names,” even though this is in clear violation of the freedom of speech.
In the same month, the Turkish government demanded that all the schools be closed. The recent interview of the Turkish Ambassador shows that the Turkish government has withdrawn this request, now being satisfied with merely “warning” parents and prospective students.
