Turkish Educational Foundation Receives President Erdoğan’s Wife

The Maarif Foun­da­tion is report­ing that Turk­ish Pres­i­dent Erdoğan’s wife, Emine, attend­ed its con­sul­ta­tive meet­ing in Bel­gium. Accord­ing to the Maarif Foun­da­tion release:

June 14, 2021 Pres­i­dent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s wife, Emine Erdoğan, attend­ed to the con­sul­ta­tive meet­ing of the Turk­ish Maarif Foun­da­tion in Brus­sels.  In a post on her social media account, First Lady Emine Erdoğan said : “ We met with rep­re­sen­ta­tives of non-gov­ern­men­tal orga­ni­za­tions and female stu­dents at the con­sul­ta­tion meet­ing orga­nized by the Maarif Foun­da­tion in Brus­sels on the occa­sion of the NATO Lead­ers’ Sum­mit and exchanged views on their activities.

Read the rest here.

The Turk­ish gov­ern­ment found­ed the Maarif Foun­da­tion (Türkiye Maarif Vak­fı) osten­si­bly to pro­vide edu­ca­tion, dor­mi­to­ries, and schol­ar­ships abroad, from pre-school to high­er edu­ca­tion, and raise a “Turkey-friend­ly youth.” It was also intend­ed to take over schools run by sup­port­ers of Fethul­lah Gülen, which Turkey blames for its 2016 coup. Zafer Sırakaya, Istan­bul AKP MP and AKP Deputy Chair­man of For­eign Rela­tions, has iden­ti­fied the Maarif Foun­da­tion as an ele­ment of Turkey’s soft pow­er and a means to reduce assim­i­la­tion among the Turk­ish dias­po­ra. The Maarif Foun­da­tion oper­ates in over 100 coun­tries glob­al­ly. Its board mem­bers include many AKP offi­cials, as well as:

• Selim Cer­rah, a co-founder and vice pres­i­dent of Cihan­nü­ma, an asso­ci­a­tion that has host­ed Hamas lead­ers, includ­ing Khaled Meshaal.

• Osman Nuri Kabak­te­pe (Vice Pres­i­dent Maarif Foun­da­tion) was a vice pres­i­dent of Cihan­nü­ma and a mem­ber of the high advi­so­ry board of the Inter­na­tion­al Mus­lim Schol­ars Asso­ci­a­tion, which has called itself the Turk­ish branch of the Inter­na­tion­al Union of Mus­lim Schol­ars.

• Ayşen Gür­can has been a Chief Advi­sor to Pres­i­dent Erdoğan.

GIOR report­ing on the Maarif Foun­da­tion has included:

• In July 2021, we report­ed that Turk­ish gov­ern­ment offi­cials, lead­ers of a Turk­ish Islamist orga­ni­za­tion, and the Pres­i­dent of the Bel­gian Maarif Foun­da­tion par­tic­i­pat­ed in a reli­gious high school’s grad­u­a­tion ceremony.

• In May 2021, we report­ed that the Maarif Foun­da­tion was pro­mot­ing a new school in the US state of New Jersey.

• In March 2021, we report­ed that the Maarif Foundation’s bud­get was tripled for 2021.