Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-09-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will make representations to the Kurdistan Region Government about the proposed closing of schools and institutions linked to the Gülen Movement, as a result of discussions between the government of Turkey and that government.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We are aware of reports that all Gulen schools in the Kurdistan Region will come under the management of the Kurdistan Regional Government ‘s Ministry of Education, although we do not yet fully understand the rationale behind this decision. Officials at our Consulate General in Erbil will discuss this issue with representatives of the Kurdistan Regional Government at the earliest opportunity. Delivering a quality education remains an ongoing challenge for the government of Iraq. Reports suggest that almost one in five schools across Iraq is out of use due to conflict, which has left millions of Iraqi children of school-age outside of the education system. We continue to work with the government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government to promote education, particularly through the work of the British Council and our Chevening programme.