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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s struggle to get rid of the Gulen movement headed by its leader Fethullah Gulen is going global, reports the US agency Bloomberg.

After purging thousands of officials he said were followers of Fethullah Gulen, a cleric blamed for undermining his government, Erdogan is targeting an international network of charter schools run by Gulen’s movement. “Since the start of the year, schools in Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Gambia have closed, and education officials in Somalia, Pakistan and northern Iraq say they have come under pressure from the Turkish government to follow suit,” the article reads.

The article also notes that there were 14 Gulen schools operating in Azerbaijan. The movement also helped the Azeri government to help cultivate political support in the U.S.

In general the network of the Gulen schools developed around the world but the political confrontation of Gulen with Erdogan led to a crackdown of the movement. After Erdogan’s visit to Baku the Nur schools in Azerbaijan started to close and the high officials that were directly connected with Fethullah Gulen were dismissed of their high positions. The Nurs are being driven out from Somalia as well. There are 4 educational centers in this African country. The authorities of the country have faced the pressure of Turkey which demands the closure of the educational centers.

Erdogan’s decisive steps speak of the growing confidence of the Turkish leader in his invincibility. The Erdogan schools have raised figures who will later implement in their countries the concept of a moderate Islamic state, the publication reads.
At the same time Anthony Skinner, head of analysis at Maplecroft, insists that this campaign of Erdogan leads the country toward single-party rule. According to him Fethullah Gulen mobilizes all his efforts and will soon attack Erdogan. “I expect another attack against Erdogan when he is most vulnerable, he said.”

Azerbaijan has recently banned the activities of schools and kindergartens of the Azerbaijani International Education Center, including courses of "Araz", which were controlled by Nur groups. Azerbaijani International Education Center includes several kindergartens, 11 schools, courses "Araz" and the University of the "Caucasus".

After the visit of the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan to Baku that took place in early April the media was predicting to adopt this decision. It was reported that the Turkish Prime Minister was unhappy with the presence of Nur supporters in Azerbaijan. Erdogan believes that creation of Gulen "Khizmat" organization is infiltrating the state authorities of Turkey, carries out subversive activities against the government. After that a number of senior officials were removed from their posts in Azerbaijan, including the head of the department of the Presidential Administration Elnur Aslanov and the Head of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations Elshad Isgandarov.