Turkey has closed around 1,000 private schools linked to Fethullah Gulen, the exiled cleric blamed for masterminding July’s failed military coup. In October, some foreign media agencies reported that the Ankara government has asked Mongolia to close down its Turkish schools, claiming they are linked to Fethullah Gulen. Turkish Education Ministry Undersecretary Yusuf Tekin, who is known to be the architect of decrees that shut down schools across Turkey, visited Mongolia in October and met with D.Bayarsaikhan, State Secretary for Education, Culture, Science and Sports. The first and the most important item on the agenda was, allegedly, closing Gulen’s schools in Mongolia, in line with Turkey's Educational Purge. So, news.mn clarified these media claims with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and directors of the Turkish schools in Mongolia. According to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, no official notice was received from Ankara regarding closing Turkish schools in Mongolia. We also spoke to D.Ganbaatar, who is the director of the Ulaanbaatar Empathy School; he said, ' the administration body of the five Mongolian-Turkish schools, which is led by the Ulaanbaatar Empathy School didn’t received any official notification or anything else regarding closure.’

In total, there are five Turkish schools operating in Mongolia, located in the provinces of Orkhon, Bayan-Ulgii and Darkhan-Uul; in the capital the Ulaanbaatar Elite School is centrally located near the Bayangol Hotel and the Ulaanbaatar Empathy School, which serves as the Turkish 'flagship' school, is located next to the Amgalan power station. The annual tuition fees for the Turkish schools in Darkhan and Orkhon costs MNT 2.5-3million, however, the two Turkish schools in Ulaanbaatar are MNT 4.8-7.5million. Dormitory fees for pupils at the schools cost between MNT 3.4 million in Ulaanbaatar and MNT1-1.5 million in the three provinces. In total, 2.9 thousand Mongolian students are studying in Turkish schools. Many graduates of these schools get impressively high scores in state examinations; 60% of graduates go on to study in universities abroad and 40% in Mongolia.

Turkish schools are currently operating in 173 country. Since the failed military coup attempt, Turkey has escalated its all-out campaign to put pressure on dozens of countries around the world to shut down Gulen- linked Turkish schools. Ankara suspects Turkish teachers working in foreign countries of spreading propaganda against president Erdogan. According to media articles, Turkey wants to shut down all schools in foreign counties. However, it appears that this is not the case; with the exception of Somalia and Equatorial Guinea, schools have generally remained open, in particular in Jordan and Azerbaijan, which are close allies of Ankara. In Turkey itself, however, the picture is quite different, the Ministry of National Education has closed 2000 local educational institutions and 61 thousand teachers had been relieved from their duties.