Turkey asks Cambodia to close schools linked to alleged coup plotter

Turkey on Monday urged Cambodia to close three schools supposedly linked to the alleged mastermind of last month’s failed military coup, as part of a post-coup campaign being engaged in by Turkish embassies around the world.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Chum Sounry told reporters that Turkish Ambassador Ilhan Kemal Tug made the call in a meeting earlier in the day with Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn.

The Turkish government insists the schools, like hundreds of others around the world it seeks to have closed down, are associated with the movement of US-based Islamic cleric and political figure Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has identified as the coup’s mastermind. Gulen denies involvement.

Zaman International School, consisting of a kindergarten and primary and secondary schools with a total enrollment of over 800 students, has operated in Phnom Penh since 1997.

Zaman University opened in the capital in 2011, when Turkish deputy prime minister at the time Bulent Arinc attended its inauguration ceremony along with senior Cambodian officials.