Turkey gov’t-owned foundation makes first Albania acquisition to rival Gulen-linked schools

TIRANA, Aug. 20 – Turkey’s government-owned Maarif Foundation is now officially present in Albania after taking over one of the largest private-run universities in the country, rivalling a bigger network of schools and universities linked to what the Turkish government calls the Fethullah Terrorist Organization, FETO, allegedly run by U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen whom it accuses of masterminding a failed July 2016 coup to topple Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Maarif Foundation has fully acquired the University of New York Tirana, Albania’s first private run higher education institution set up in 2002, becoming the sole owner of a…