Americans Against Antisemitism

Erdogan has spent nearly $1 billion building a global school network that investigators say is used to export political Islam and target his opponents abroad. According to a report by the Belgium-based human rights group Solidarity with Others, Turkey's state-funded Maarif Foundation educates around 30,000 students in 34 countries while helping Ankara seize control of schools previously linked to the Gülen movement. Since 2016, the foundation has reportedly been involved in the closure, confiscation, or forced transfer of 162 schools across 29 countries, taking direct control of 131 institutions and affecting around 7,800 teachers and staff. The report alleges Turkey used diplomatic pressure, security agreements, raids, deportations, and property seizures to force countries including Afghanistan, Mali, Niger, Sudan, Venezuela, Zambia, and Liberia to hand schools over to Maarif. State funding for the foundation has exceeded 27.7 billion lira (about $900 million) since its creation. The report concludes there is a reasonable basis to investigate the campaign as persecution amounting to a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute. Turkey is just one of several state actors that fund Islamists on a global scale. Iran and Qatar are two other examples, with both heavily focused on spreading Islamism in Europe.