Authorities in Azerbaijan’s autonomous region of Naxcivan closed all three private Turkish schools linked to the US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen.

These were the remaining Gulenist schools in Azerbaijan after the country’s state oil company SOCAR shut down all lyceums and university prep schools run by Gulen’s Hizmet movement last month.

The schools and lyceums had been merged with SOCAR’s Modern Education Center last year.

Pressure mounted on Gulen followers in Azerbaijan after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Baku in April.

Erdogan has accused Gulen and his followers of seeking to undermine his government through corruption probes launched in December.

Bakudaily.az