Morocco closes all Gulen-linked schools 

Morocco’s Education Ministry today announced that all Mohamed Al-Fatih schools – which are affiliated with the Fetullah Gulen network – have been shut down countrywide.

“In line with our earlier decision to shut all educational institutions linked to the Mohamed Al-Fatih group, all these schools have been closed,” read a ministry statement.

“Students enrolled at these schools have all since been re-enrolled at various state and private educational institutions… in accordance with their parents’ wishes,” it added.

On 5 January, Morocco’s Interior Ministry announced its decision to close all Gulen-linked educational institutions operating in the country.

The announcement came after investigations by the Moroccan authorities had revealed that these institutions provided “fertile ground for the promotion of the group’s ideology and that of its founder” and were “disseminating ideas incompatible with Morocco’s educational and religious values”.

Following the failure of last year’s July 15 coup attempt in Turkey, the Turkish embassy in Rabat had provided Morocco’s Foreign Ministry with information regarding the Gulen network’s presence in the North African country.

At the time, a Turkish diplomatic source at the embassy had voiced hope that Morocco would take “all necessary steps” to close down all Gulen-linked schools operating on its territory.

The Gulen network established its first school in Morocco in 1993 in the coastal city of Tangier before setting up more in other cities.

The Turkish authorities believe the group had orchestrated last year’s coup attempt against the country’s democratically elected government, which left at least 248 martyrs in its wake and some 2,200 others injured.