Turkish Company Serkhat Condemned for Trying to Spread Pan-Islamic Sentiment in Bashkiria

The Education Ministry of Bashkiria has scrapped an agreement with Turkish company Serkhat under which Bashkir-Turkish colleges were opened in four cities of the republic. As a Rosbalt correspondent reports, this decision was taken due to the fact that Serkhat belongs to the Nurdjular Islamic sect.

During the course of FSB (federal security bureau) inquiries in Bashkiria it came to light that the founders of the colleges were sympathetic to the ideology of the sect, which preaches pan-Turkism and pan-Islam. According to FSB sources, the education at the four Serkhat colleges in Ufa, Sterlitamak, Neftekamsk and Sibai was pro-Turkey and national legislation on teaching methods had been breached. Moreover, the colleges appeared to be protecting illegal immigrants. In 2001 Director of the Bashkir-Turkish college in Neftekamsk Omar Kavakly was convicted of abusing his authority and deported from the country. According to the FSB, more than 20 Turkish citizens (all members of the Nurdjular sect) have been deported from Russia over the last two years.