Moldovan President Igor Dodon is to welcome Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan after Chisinau expelled seven Turkish professors linked to the Gulenist movement for alleged ‘terrorism-related’ activities.
Igor Dodon announced on Tuesday that his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan will make an official visit to Chisinau from October 17-18 for the opening of the presidential palace in Chisinau, which was renovated with funds from Ankara.
“[Turkish ambassador to Chisinau] Mr Gurol Sokmensuer confirmed that the first official visit to Moldova by Recep Tayyip Erdogan as president of Turkey will take place from October 17-18 and will include both events in Chisinau and Gagauzia [an autonomous region of Moldova inhabited by ethnic Turks],” Dodon wrote on Facebook.
The visit was confirmed less than three weeks after seven Turkish professors were kicked out of Moldova for alleged “terrorism-related activities” in a joint operation conducted by the Moldovan secret service and Turkish intelligence.
On September 6, the two countries’ intelligence services detained and expelled the professors, who were working for a private chain of high schools in Moldova that has been linked to exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who accuses of being behind an attempted coup in 2016.
Turkish companies started to work on renovating the Moldovan presidency building in February, on a contract worth 10 million euros.
Dodon has not given a direct answer to questions about what Turkey wants in return, only saying that the two countries have good relations.
But while visiting Chisinau in May 2017, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim asked Moldova to close down the Horizont high-school network on account of its links to Gulen’s movement.
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