Erdoğan warns of FETÖ threat in Albania

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has warned Albania of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) network in the country. Speaking in an exclusive interview on Tirana broadcaster Top Channel late Monday, Erdoğan said that Albania needs to learn the lessons from the foiled coup attempt in Turkey last July, which FETÖ masterminded.

"If this terrorist organization was able to do this in Turkey, they could do the same in Albania tomorrow," he said.

Erdoğan called on Albanians not to send their children to FETÖ schools in order to prevent this threat, and not to "ever give them the opportunity" to infiltrate government and state institutions by placing those students in public positions was done in Turkey. He said he had also made the same request to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and President Bujar Nishani, and warned that FETÖ might otherwise become a threat in the country in the future, and then "it would be too late." Erdoğan suggested that the state-supported Turkey Maarif Foundation and Albania's Education Ministry take joint action to ensure that the students currently enrolled at such schools continue their education at new schools to be established in the country. According to Turkey's ambassador to Tirana, Hidayet Bayraktar, FETÖ operates 12 schools in Albania.