 About Gulen charter schools
Gulen charter schoolsThe last source of strain was the government's plans to abolish private prep schools that prepare students for various exams in the Turkish educational system. Gulen owns a large network of such schools, a major source of revenues and human resources. Turkish probe marks AKP-Gulen power struggle |
Recent corruption investigations reflect the rivalry between the ruling party and the influential conservative movement.
Umut Uras Last updated: 24 Dec 2013 14:05
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Corruption in state tenders, money laundering, bribery, gold smuggling and distribution of prime land among favorites are among the accusations put on the suspects [AFP]
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| Turkey has been shaken by the most extensive and sensational corruption investigations of its recent history that have led to dozens of detentions - from renowned business people to senior bureaucrats and sons of ministers. There is a consensus in Turkey that the graft crackdown is linked to the recent tensions between the United States-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen's movement and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan'sruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) that, many analysts say, used to be allies in the past in their struggle against Turkey's politically dominant military. Erdogan was furious in his first reactions to the crackdown. He called the probe a "dirty operation" to smear his administration and undermine the country's progress. The prime minister said that those behind the investigations were trying to form a "state within a state" in an apparent reference to the movement of Gulen, whose followers are apparently highly influential in Turkey's Turkish PM’s adviser accuses Gulen movement of plotting against army, nation 25 December 2013, 09:16 (GMT+04:00)
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Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's chief political adviser, Yalcın Akdogan, has blasted Islamist scholar Fethullah Gulen's movement, the Cemaat, in a column in which he raved about his leader hurriyet daily news reported.
"He [the prime minister] knows well that the ones who machinated against their own country's army, national intelligence, national bank and much-loved political authority will not do anything for the sake of this country," Akdogan wrote in a column published Dec. 24 in daily Star, a steadfast government ally.
"He knows that the ones seeing every road allowable to reach a purpose creates sick understandings," he wrote in his article titled "Do they have light [nur in Turkish] or pommel in their hands," which can be interpreted as a reference to trhe Nur Cemaati that Gulen's movement originated from.
The high-level graft probe that has shaken the political establishment has exposed a bitter feud between the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and Gulen, whose followers hold key positions in the police,
Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. (Photo: Today's Zaman, Selahattin Sevi)
28 November 2013 /TODAYSZAMAN.COM, Ä°STANBUL
Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has urged followers of the Hizmet movement to insist on the “right and logical” and defend prep schools, which the Turkish government has said it will shut down despite tremendous public outrage.
“Let's destroy these schools. They are vanity! … Let's stop this initiative. They are futile," Gülen said, imitating those who are defaming the educational institutions. “God will hold you accountable. They [the schools] are not yours; they are entrusted to you for safekeeping,” Gülen said. The remarks were a repetition of earlier statements in which he has frequently argued that it is wrong to associate the schools, which are now established in over 160 countries, with the Hizmet movement and that they are the property of the entire Turkish nation. He was referring to the fact that the nation has entrusted these educational institutions to the Hizmet movement to run and for safekeeping. He urged the Hizmet members not to be “indifferent” to a plan to shut them down. “You will defend this [initiative]; you will absolutely defend this but without compromising your [established] method [of being gentle],” he added. Gülen recalled that “winds are blowing opposite [the Hizmet movement] today" and that this may cause some to go “adrift” in certain feelings, thoughts and statements. “Considering all these things, we need to stand determined against going adrift,” Gülen stressed. Gülen also recalled accusations against members of Hizmet such as “realizing some joint projects with the children of Uncle Sam, Ham, Tam.” He was referring to allegations that Hizmet is working with certain countries. He said if it were necessary to approach the issue in a simple form and if he was 10-15 years old, he would say |
This increasingly well-rooted network provides the Gulen Movement with daily access to the minds of over 45,000 students, and yearly access to hundreds of millions of hard-earned tax dollars. How did it come to pass that most Americans, including these students' parents, are completely unaware of this phenomenon?
The Gulen Movement is one of the most powerful and influential forces within Turkish society. Outside of Turkey, it also operates as an expansive, coordinated, and ambitious transnational human energy force comprised of the devoted followers of Fetullah Gulen. Estimates place the number of Gulen followers at between one and eight million.
For nearly two decades, Gulen's followers have been traveling to other countries in order to operate schools, Turkish "cultural" centers, "interfaith dialog" centers, and business organizations out of which they work to advance their movement's goals. This is an ambitious religious group with a serious geopolitical agenda.
Gulen, a charismatic but very controversial imam of the Nur sect, has been the most influential Islamic leader in Turkey for the past few decades. The Movement and its membership is called by different names: the Hizmet movement (or just Hizmet), the Fethullah Gulen Community (or FCG, or simply the "Community"), Fethullah Gulen's missionaries, the Nurchilar religious movement (used in Central Asia), and the cemaat.
The charter school network in the U.S. is part of the expanding global network of schools being operated by members of this group. Estimates place the total number of schools at over one thousand and operating in ~100 countries around the world. In other countries the schools are often locally referred to as "Turkish" schools and they are nearly all private. The charter school system in the U.S. is allowing the Gulen Movement's schools to be publicly funded.
Typically, teams of mostly Turkish-born scientists, academics, and businessmen form a non-profit and then submit a charter school application. Those applications portray the founders -- some of whom have only been living in the U.S. for a short time -- as individuals who decided to start a charter school because they care so deeply about American children. Many of the non-Turkish-born individuals who appear on the founding and governing boards can be tied to Gulenist "cultural" or "interfaith" organizations. The location where these efforts take place is highly-coordinated because the Gulenist expansion is an imperialistic campaign. For more explanation, read this page.
The charter school applications omit many important things. They make no mention of Fethullah Gulen or how the purpose of the school is to implement Gulen's educational philosophy and vision. The charter school applications make no mention about how the "international teachers" the schools plan to hire will exclusively be from Turkey (along with a few from other Turkic countries where the movement has made inroads). They do not mention that among the foreign languages to
