Turkey: HURMA, CGPI task FG on Hizmet movement

Hizmet Movement also known as the ‘Fetullah Gulen Movement’, was named after its founder Fetullah Gulen, now based in United State of America (USA). The two groups were accused of being behind the July 15 2016 coup d’état inTurkey.

HURMA and CGIP in a joint statement signed by Comrade Buna Isiak Olaitan and Yekeen S. I, the groups’ national coordinators stated: “our concern about the nefarious activities of the group (coordinated clandestinely from Nigeria and into other African countries) is driven by our sense of patriotism as Nigerians and that of a Pan African solidarity as true Africans.

“Critical observations about the evil activities of the Hizmet Movement are in the following areas: The Education Sector: The strategy of the Hizmet Movement is to hide under the platform of education to recruit and indoctrinate Nigerian youth for executing future agenda of the Movement.

“In a continuing fraud upon unsuspecting Nigerians by the group, the name ‘Turkish school’ used by Hizmet which has been fraudulently parading itself  as the face of the Turkish government all over the world (Nigeria inclusive), was changed overnight following the beaming of searchlight by Turkish authorities on Fetullah and his Movement”.

”Nigerian-Turkish International College (NTIC) and the Nigerian Turkish Nile University (NTNU) became the Nigerian Tulip International College, and the Nigerian Nile University respectively removing the brand name ‘Turkish’ which like a stolen product has been used to hoodwink and curry favour until now. It is even doubtful whether these changes in names passed through appropriate processes”, the statement added.

The groups posited further that there have been wide ranging reports of false and unethical educational activities such as the manipulation of promotion of pupils and students as strategy of extorting money from innocent Nigerian parents alongside the violation of Nigerian Labour laws and the exploitation of Nigerian parents in their quest for foreign education by the school.

“Secondly, a critical dissection of the NTIC schools revealed that a gruesome bastardisation and promotion of substandard education in Nigeria. The teachers referred to as expatriates are in most cases not qualified going by both the Turkish and Nigerian standards of education and policy. Equally, the local Nigerian teachers used by the school, are cheated, abused, frustrated and exploited in terms of conditions of service with respect to their ‘foreign’ counterpart who are solely recruited from Hizmet membership”.

Both HURMA and CGIP further alleged further that Hizmet Movement through economic sabotage, has short-changed the Nigerian Government in the area of taxation over the years, and an independent investigation into the accounts of the group by anti-corruption agencies will reveal sharp practices in matters of filling tax returns.

“There are also allegations of illegal foreign currency deals, as it was revealed that the Hizmet group transferred foreign currency of up to $2million through a bank in Nigeria as part of the facility for the July 15 2016 coup in Turkey. Yet the group and its members walk and work freely in the country without being investigated”.

The two right groups also stated that as a way of spreading immorality and inducing corruption, that the Hizmet Movement has promoted the culture of lesbianism and homosexualism reportedly rampant in various Turkish schools but which have been carefully taken away from the view of the Nigerian public.

The right groups also accused Hizmet Moment of International Laws violation, saying that the Movement has been using Nigeria as a base to plan, co-ordinate and implement an insurrection agenda against a legitimately elected government in its home country of Turkey; adding that there has never been any foreign group in the history of Nigeria that has been so bold and openly using Nigeria territory for subverting another government, moving money and logistics through Nigeria’s borders and putting the country in the line of diplomatic rift with a friendly nation as Turkey.

“Hizmet is engaged in activities regarded as criminal, egregious and constitutive of crimes against humanity under international law as the culmination of those activities was the coup d’état in Turkey which left hundreds of Turkish citizens dead”, the groups added.

The organisations therefore posited: “as patriotic and responsible citizens we are compelled to alert the Nigerian government to the grave dangers that Hizmet posed as a group and the need to censor its activities in our government”.

“Our assessment shows that neither the Turkish Embassy nor the respective Nigerian agencies concerned have been responsive enough in exposing the group with regard to the injury and destruction, and ultimately the re-colonization agenda that Hizmet is unleashing on Nigeria as well as the subversive campaign on the government of its home country.”

HURMA and CGPI called on the federal government to immediately set up an independent investigation panel to probe the activities of Hizmet Movement, including its schools and other outfits to reveal the manner of its conduct and collaboration with previous regimes in Nigeria in the past 16 years.

They also said all Hizmet schools should be handed over to the Turkish government through the embassy with the useful part of the workforce retained and the schools restructured to comply with standards worthy of accommodation in both Turkish and Nigerian Education policy.

The groups also urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission and Other Related Offences (ICPC) to carry out fresh independent investigation to reveal the financial institutions connected to the $2 million transfer used to facilitate the July 15 coup, and other allegations of money laundering and tax evasion by the NTIC under previous administrations.

They also tasked Nigerian Security agencies to beam their searchlight on the activities of Hizmet Movement in Nigeria for the past ten years with security checks on all members of the movement to ascertain their migrant status. And that the Intelligence community should also carry out security checks on the youth who have passed through the crucible of Hizmet Movement indoctrination to ensure that they are used neither as espionage tools nor for criminal activities in future.

”We believe in the sincerity and integrity of the Federal Government of Nigeria and President Muhammadu Buhari led-administration to objectively and carefully look into this petition and do justice to it. We also believe in the commitment of this administration to truth, transparency, the rule of law, mutual trust among  nations and respect for international laws, norms and conventions, hence a duty to get to the bottom of this matter”.