‘No plans for a divinity school’
THERE are no plans to build a new faith-based school in Bellapais run by a Turkish institution, the head of the TRNC’s religious foundation Evkaf said on Thursday.
İbrahim Benter denied local press reports that the government had agreed to a new “divinity school” to be built by the Turkish Maarif Foundation (TMF) on Evkaf-owned land.
The TMF describes itself as a nonprofit public entity, which was set up with the backing of the Turkish government to provide education overseas.
It has reportedly taken over a number schools around the world that had previously been run by the socalled Fethullah Terrorist Organisation (Fetö), the group led by US-based preacher Fethullah Gülen, who is accused of masterminding last year’s failed coup attempt in Turkey.
Reports earlier in the week claimed that Turkish Cypriot ministers had struck a deal to lease 70 dönüms of land in Bellapais to the TMF, sparking condemnation from the Cyprus Turkish Teachers’ Union (Ktös).
Its general secretary Şener Elcil said he would “bitterly oppose” such a move and claimed he had previously been told by former Education Minister Özdemir Berova that there was no land available to build new state schools in the Girne area.
“Now we see that there is apparently empty land,” he said.
“Even if it is not a divinity school, they are talking about a private institution coming here and having a faithbased education system.
“We are not happy with this. We believe in the need to have more staterun schools, in full-day education, with a set national curriculum.”
Dr Benter responded by saying that the reports were “wrong”. Speaking to Cyprus Today’s sister newspaper Kıbrıs, he said the “construction of such a [faith-based] school in Girne or anywhere else” was “out of the question”.
He said officials at the Education Ministry had been in talks with TMF chiefs to “cooperate” on building a school that would provide “opportunities” to “good students” from “poor families”.
He said that under the plans being discussed, the site would include a nursery, primary and secondary school, with education provided in English “above a certain level”.
Dr Benter said a TMF school in North Cyprus would “not be a moneymaking institution” and that a university was also being “contemplated” for the future.
Evkaf offıcial Ahmet Dorukan said: “A long-term lease is being talked about for an educational establishment, but no contract has been signed and the [exact] details regarding the type of education establishment it will be are not yet known.”
Mr Dorukan added that the size of the land in question “is not 70 dönüms as claimed, but 61, on two separate parcels, between Ozanköy and Çatalköy, but located within the boundaries of Bellapais”.