Turkish parents face threats at Lucerna schools
Parents of Turkish descent are being put under pressure to remove their children from Lucerna schools in Belgium, which are managed by Turkey’s opposition movement
‘This cannot be allowed’
According to reports, parents have been threatened if they do not remove their children from the Lucerna schools, run by the movement behind exiled opposition leader Fethullah Gülen. The movement was blamed for being behind last month’s failed coup in Turkey.
Shortly after the coup attempt, Bourgeois reacted strongly to a suggestion from a spokesperson of the Turkish embassy that the Gülen movement should be investigated. He emphasised again this week that Turkey’s conflict should not be imported to Flanders.
“But this has indeed happened; parents are being threatened and put under pressure, with the result that some of them have taken their children out of the Lucerna schools,” said Bourgeois. “Obviously, this cannot be allowed.”
He called on the justice system to investigate whether criminal acts had taken place. “These are the rules that apply here, and we cannot tolerate for them not to be respected,” he said.
Photo: Bourgeois visits the Lucerna school in Anderlecht last year
©Lucerna College Brussels
