An independent school supported by the Turkish government is paying just a dollar a month in rent to the New South Wales government for its temporary quarters in Sydney, SBS Turkish has learned.
The school, the International Maarif School of Australia, is tied to the Turkey-based Maarif Foundation which operates hundreds of schools mainly aimed at Turkish expatriate families around the world. It is part of efforts by the Turkish government to reduce the influence of the Gülen Movement headed by U.S.-based and exiled Turkish preacher Fetullah Gülen.
The deputy principal of the International Maarif School of Australia, Zeynep Yaseen, speaking to SBS Turkish earlier this week, confirmed the “a dollar a month” arrangement, saying that the rent was largely “symbolic”. Yaseen claimed that the school, which is independently managed by the Australian Maarif Foundation, was supported by both the Turkish and Australian governments.
International Maarif School of Australia, Auburn, NSW Source: Courtesy by Zeynep Yaseen
When asked by SBS Turkish if the school was founded against the Fetullah Gülen organisation, Yasseen affirmed that statement.
"As I said, the Maarif Foundation was founded on July 17, 2016, for, yes that purpose," said Yasseen, "But Maarif’s real purpose, our real purpose is teach about the Turkish culture and tradition and carry it to the future."
She said that the families of the 60 students who started school last Monday, will be paying $4,000 per year for tuition.
When asked about the dollar-a-month rent, a media liaison officer for the NSW Department of Education did not deny the reportedly low level of rent in a written statement, and said that “commercial agreements, including rent, is negotiated by the department on a case-by-case basis.”
The statement also said that the Maarif School would be housed in vacant facilities on part of the department’s former Cairnsfoot School site in Brighton-Le-Sands.
Source: Courtesy by Zeynep Yaseen
A decade of division for Turks
The evident conflict between Turkish schools that are aligned with the Turkish government and schools that are aligned with the Gülen Movement splits Turks around Australia and the world.
Turkey’s long-ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Gülen Movement, which had influence in the country’s business, media, finance and especially education sectors, were allies until a falling out earlier this decade.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has been running the country since 2002 as prime minister and president since 2014, was initially supported by the Gülen Movement and its trained cadres within state institutions. The AKP, which is a conservative political party, and the Gülenists, as part of a somewhat secretive religion-oriented social movement, had a falling out over the direction of the country in 2013. The Turkish government, headed by Erdoğan, now blames the movement for a failed coup attempt that took place on July 15, 2016. That event saw 200 Turks killed and precipitated a comprehensive crackdown on the Gülen Movement and its members by the government.
Competing narratives
Tens of thousands of people affiliated with the movement remain behind bars in Turkey. Turkey’s government regards the Gülen Movement as a terrorist group and has been pushing for its recognition as such across the globe.
Yet, Turkey’s efforts to have the Gülen Movement internationally recognized as a terrorist organisation have mostly failed. The US has snubbed repeated Turkish requests for the extradition of Gülen-aligned individuals, including the leader of the movement Fetullah Gülen who lives in Pennsylvania.
The rest of international community has also largely resisted branding the movement as a terrorist one – the Dutch government found no link between the Gülen Movement and terrorism, and the Gülen Movement continues to have a presence in the US education sector. The Australian government has not made a formal statement on its position.
Source: Courtesy by Zeynep Yaseen
Turkish education in Australia
One of the most important avenues of influence for the Gülen Movement continues to be that of education, as it operates hundreds of schools around the world, including the Sirius network of schools with six separate campuses running in Melbourne alone.
The group, which established its first school in Australia in 1996, now has 16 schools nationwide. In 2009, there were 5,000 students being educated in these schools. Since the 2016 coup attempt, many Turks have withdrawn their children from those Gülen-affiliated schools.
The Turkish government’s main manoeuvre against the Gülen Movement’s educational institutions is the Maarif Foundation, which was founded on July 17, 2016, two days after the 2016 attempted coup. The Turkish government sees the Maarif as a counter to Gülen-managed schools, which it says is the recruitment ground for the movement.
Currently the Maarif Foundation operates 255 schools in 34 countries. The NSW-based International Maarif School of Australia will be the first of its kind and this network in Australia.
Some countries have also allowed the Maarif Foundation, which only operates outside Turkey, to take over the management of Gülenist schools.
Turkey’s Maarif Foundation Chairman Prof. Birol Akgün, told the state-owned TRT channel late last year that 117 of the schools had been transferred to Maarif by local authorities. He also said that they were in contact with authorities from 100 countries where the Gülen Movement had a presence.
The International Maarif School of Australia officially opened on February 4 in Sydney’s Auburn neighbourhood. It will first operate from the temporary quarters provided by the NSW Education Ministry before moving to a permanent building, which is currently under construction. The cost of the construction is said to be between $750,000 to $1 million.
Source: Courtesy by Zeynep Yaseen
Deputy Principal Yaseen said the plan was to expand to the rest of Australia in the future, opening several other schools across the country.
She also said that the students will be taught in accordance with Australian and Turkish values. The education will follow the Australia curriculum with an additional seven hours of Turkish language classes per week.
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