MANILA, Philippines — Officials of two Turkish institutions operating schools in the Philippines denied having links to any terrorist groups and activities, contrary to claims made by Turkish Ambassador Esra Cankorur, and appealed to be cleared of the allegations for the sake of their students.
“Once and for all, we would like to clear (that) we are not…definitely not terrorists…Those are things we have nothing to do about. We are just an institution that is negatively dragged in this issue,” Krizelle Moon-Kilicaslan, president of the Integrative Center for Alternative Development Foundation, Inc.(ICAD), said during a joint press conference on Tuesday with Pacific Dialogue Foundation, Inc.(PDF).
Two Turkish schools in the country — the Fountain International Schools in San Juan City and Tolerance School in Zamboanga City — are being run by ICAD and PDF. The schools were earlier linked by Cankorur to the Turkish terror group called Fethullah Gulen Movement. Both institutions denied their involvement in a coup attempt in Turkey in 2016.
Bora Aslan, ICAD director, said the allegations were affecting their students.
“(W)e want the children to really be protected…You know the conscience of the Filipino people will prevail and correct this matter…As we have said this is really political and we do not want to talk about these things. But as educators, we are of course…worried about the perception that children might have in the long run,” said Aslan.
Haron Ali, secretary general of the Imam Council of the Philippines, Inc. said the Turkish organizations “are actually engage in humanitarian services not only (for) Filipino Muslims but also to non-Muslims.”
“They promote love, harmony, and compassion in every citizen of this country and also foreigners…We witnessed that they (were) not involved with any illegal activities,” added Ali.
Cihanger Arslan, president of PDF, said their institution had been in the country for almost 20 years, professionally working to promote peace, understanding, and acceptance.
“What you see is what you get”, he said, adding that the institution was open to any investigation.
“We had been checked by all government organizations regularly. And I think they wanted us to give clearance regarding this issue. So we do not know why this accusations are thrown to us,”said Arslan.
Aslan meanwhile said that ICAD “do(es) not want to be indulging in this kind of talks because we are educators.”
“Almost twenty years, if we have a hidden agenda, I think there will be something until today…the terrorists would not patiently wait…for twenty years,” Arslan added.
“We have always been cleared by all government institutions. As far as we are concerned in terms of legality, in terms of permits and accreditation, we are clear. We just want to live normally,”said Kilicaslan.
She likewise stressed that they are educators and they are not used to this kind of allegation.
“Give us a curriculum , give us students to teach, we will come up with lesson plans. But these things, we are not very much used to,” said Kilicaslan.
Father Carlos Reyes, executive secretary of Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines, said the government should focus more on what these groups had been doing for the country.
“As far as I know, they have not committed any acts of terrorism. I have experienced very positive activities coming from them for the past ten years or so,” he said.
“I had been with them. They are not terrorists. I would k now a terrorist when I see one…As to the motivation of the honorable ambassador… I think it’s not for us to speculate…But let the evidence speak for itself. With all my experience of kindness, friendship from them. I trust them,” Reyes said.
Arslan said they had already been investigated by the police and intelligence agencies and the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs had also cleared them.
Kilicaslan said their organizations “do not have a facade.”
“We just want to emphasize…three things: number one, (we) provide education, number two, we give charity, and number three, we want to promote universal peace and cultural understanding. Nothing more, nothing less,” she said.