Failed Coup: Turkish government detains 50 Nigerian Students in Istanbul

More than 50 Nigerians studying in Turkey have been reportedly arrested by the Turkish police over their alleged involvement in the failed military coup which took place in the country on July 15th.

According to Thisday, the detained Nigerians are mainly students of Fathi University, one of the private universities in Turkey.

A close relative of one of the students said

“Upon arrival at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, they were all escorted to a room and their passport confiscated by Turkish police. When they enquired why they were clamped in a dirty room, the police said they are students of a terrorist organisation. They offered to transfer them to government schools but on the condition that we will pay same fees as private universities,”.

The Fathi University is among the 2099 schools, dormitories and universities shut down in the wake of the July 15th failed coup in Turkey. The Turkish authorities said the schools and universities were terrorist schools because they have links with Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen, whom the Turkish government had accused of being the mastermind of the failed coup attempt. It would also be recalled that the Turkish Ambassador in Nigeria Hakan Cakil, had requested the Federal government to close down 17 Turkish schools in Nigeria for alleged links to the Hizmet movement, a request which was turned down.