Maarif Foundation

The Turk­ish gov­ern­ment found­ed the Maarif Foun­da­tion (Turk­ish: Türkiye Maarif Vak­fı) in 2016 in order to pro­vide edu­ca­tion, dor­mi­to­ries and schol­ar­ships abroad, from pre-school to high­er edu­ca­tion and raise a “Turkey-friend­ly youth.” The Maarif Foun­da­tion also takes over schools oper­at­ed by Fethul­lah Gülen’s sup­port­ers, who Turkey blames for the 2016 coup. Maarif oper­ates in over 100 coun­tries across the world, includ­ing the EU, USA, and Aus­tralia. Maarif is fund­ed by the Turk­ish Min­istry of Edu­ca­tion and its bud­get was 1.23 bil­lion lira (140 mil­lion EUR) in 2021 from 1 mil­lion lira in 2016. Its board mem­bers include many AKP offi­cials, and its for­mer vice pres­i­dent, Osman Nuri Kabak­te­pe, was the deputy chair­man of the Islamist Felic­i­ty Par­ty and a for­mer board mem­ber of the IHH Human­i­tar­i­an Relief Foun­da­tion.