Gulen Charter Schools- Is an evening of Noah's pudding or Ashure in your future?

"if you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding"  from another brick in the wall-Pink Floyd

As previously reported here and in the Turkish Newspaper Hurriyet (a non-Gulen controlled media)  members of Hizmet (Gulen Movement) frequently make Noah's Pudding and deliver to local FBI offices or the local Gulen Foundation's Ashure Evening.  There are even cooking classes to teach you how to make this dessert.

http://gulencharterschoolsusa.blogspot.com/2010/12/gulen-movement-smoozes-with-fbi-brings.html

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=a-global-community-2010-12-07

Gulen Charter Schools in the USA: Gulen Charter Schools in the USA, more on the low ...

Gulen Charter Schools in the USA: Gulen Charter Schools in the USA, more on the low ...: "To the School Districts in America and abroad, the next time the Gulen Movement tries to propose a charter school in your area and claims th..."

Gulen Charter Schools in the USA, more on the low testing scores of Turkey

To the School Districts in America and abroad, the next time the Gulen Movement tries to propose a charter school in your area and claims that "Turkey is stellar in academics" or that "Turkish scholars" teach at our schools.  Please do your research.
Let’s go with that argument and then examine Turkey’s Math and Reading scores and it’s not such a pretty picture. Turkey's scores 17 points lower in math and 50 points lower in reading.  So if Turkey is scoring substantially lower in reading and math, then tell us again why we are bringing over Turkish teachers to teach American kids?

How is bringing over Turkish teachers who for the most part barely speak English and do not hold teaching credentials of any sort (which is why they are always getting substitute licenses once they land here), going to help improve our math and reading scores?

We would suggest that the guys head over to Russia to teach because their scores are even lower than Turkey’s, but the Russians are on to Gulen and have already shut down many of his schools over there.

That leaves Chile, which is a good choice because of the low cost of living and the fact that the boys do not have to have an entry visa. Just imagine how much more money the boys could kick back to the Tuzuk fund (see the **Tuzuk blog for explanation) if they live cheaper in Chile. You might want to put a "little bug" in Gulen's ear.

Adios! Boys!

Click on the link below to view the graph:

http://www.time.com/time/interactive/0,31813,2043378,00.html

 Read more: http://www.time.com/time/interactive/0,31813,2043378,00.html#ixzz1CJykGkfK

** Tuzuk is the donations the Gulen Teachers reimburse back to the Gulen Movement of their salary.  It is reported to be 40%.  We have heard of some cases where the Gulen teachers were not paid at all, merely slave labor. 

Gulen Charter Schools /PBS Documentary on Gulen mentions Harmony Charter Schools and quotes teachers

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/january-21-2011/gulen-movement/7949/

Do you need anymore proof, now the Gulen Movement is openingly and proudly (finally) speakng about how the network of foundations work in tandem with the schools.  This article quotes Harmony Science Academy Teachers and shows footage of one of the Harmony Science Schools in Texas.  It also mentions Gulen's Raindrop Turkish House and Turquoise Council, 2 Gulen Foundations in the Texas area.

Thank you Gulen Movement for finally standing tall and admitting these charter schools are managed by the Gulen Movement.

Gulen Charter Schools in the USA, American Charter Schools and the Global Turkish Islam

Is a Turkish Astronaut in the future of the USA?

First Class Revolution: From Medina to Mecca

Kurdishaspect.com - By Dr. Aland Mizell

A Global Turkish Islam

How can Gülen and his movement become a universal religion and how can they replace capitalism and become a global power? Gulen is using the same method that Muhammad used to conquer the Arabian Peninsula. From three people to more than a billion Muslims, his movement advances Gulen’s doctrine that the only way they can become powerful is to stand on their own feet, which means by gaining economic independence from the West and from non-Muslims. How can they become economically independent from the non-Muslims or West? He encourages his followers to get the positive things from the West, America, and other developed countries, such as technology and education and to leave the negative things, such as religion and social norms. For example, as they are now doing in America, they have placed so many of their followers in large engineering firms, for example, Raytheon, Boeing, and Aerospace; in universities; NASA, Hollywood, and even the White House. They made a decision to replace laid-off American workers with Turks and to negotiate contracts with factories in Turkey. They are also trying to negotiate with President Obama’s administration to use one of the Turkish Astronauts in NASA’s next mission into space.  In return the Turkish government will buy more Boeing airplanes.  Further, he is negotiating with U.S. companies and foundations to give money to Gulenist charter schools. They teach children to be Turkish: to think Turkish, to see history through the Turkish perspective, and to learn their way of life and version of Islam. This is happening around the globe. His movement has infiltrated all state institutions, mastering all politics behind the scene, with the support of the European Union, the United States, and some other global powers.  In Turkey Gülen has taken control of seats of power by securing the supremacy of their version of religion over politics, government, education, media, business, and public and personal life.  Education for Gulenists is a means to more political, social and economical power, not an end. Some academics, like Helen Rose Ebough, professor of sociology at the University of Houston and author of a book on his movement, have become the propaganda tools of Gulenists, since their recruitment and courtship by the organization. Recently Dr. Ebough wrote a book entitled Gülen Movement: a Sociological Analysis of a Civic Movement Rooted in Moderate Islam, praising the Gülen movement for its tolerance and service to humanity. One has to wonder at how much research besides their script she read.

Chief among its goals is shaping the world’s image of the movement. The Gulenists’ political, social, and religious movement is now very controversial all of over the world with so many questions being raised but few being answered. To those who think Turkey is becoming a more liberal democracy, they should consider the truth that Turkey has replaced one of its untouchable organizations for another: the military for the Gülen’s community and the AKP party.  Rather than being tolerate, they are dangerous. Those who criticize Mr. Gülen’s movement get burned.  For example, the new Constitution—highly advocated in his media-- significantly reduces the power of the military after its charge against Gülen. A more recent and highly illustrative example is Hanefi Avci, the former Turkish police chief who was arrested and charged with being affiliated with an illegal organization “The Revolutionary Headquarters,” a charge he denies. Avci published a book in 2010 alleging that Gülen’s community had covertly taken control of the state and that the government had illegally used wiretaps. Avci was taken into custody but gave a statement to the media that he would not succumb to any of the tactics of the Gülen community. Another example of retaliation for speaking out against the organization is Nurettin Veren, formerly Gülen’s close ally. Mr. Veren disagreed with Gülen, resulting in the destruction of his career and his family.  In a fourth example, the head of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Devlet Bahceli, responded to Mr. Gülen’s remark regarding the vote for a constitutional amendment, “I wish we had a chance to raise the dead from their graves and urge them to cast 'yes' votes at the referendum.” Bahceli retorted to Gülen that he needed to come back to Turkey to vote himself first rather than calling on dead people to vote.  Consequently, Gülen’s newspaper Zaman and others attacked Mr. Bahceli, who had also criticized the ruling party’s role in terrorism in the Kurdish region, and claimed that the AKP “is a political subcontractor at the global level.” The Fethullah Gülen website now leads the opposition to Bahceli.

Avoiding confrontation until the right time has been seminal in the movement. Since his coming to America, Gülen has avoided confrontation with the US.  because Muslims are not yet strong enough militarily nor economically to stand against American interests. Rather than opposition, Gulenists used the status of American power to achieve his goals in Turkey, and in the near future he will do so globally. But this tactic of relying on American strength could change once

Gulenists accrue enough power globally, and Turkey could become the biggest threat for American interests in the region. An important characteristic of the movement is its surface adherence to policies while covertly using whatever means is necessary to advance its cause.  One of Gulenists’ schools in Uzbekistan was closed because it did not have a permit, custom clearance, or renewal of its staff’s work permits and visas, etc.  But unveiling the guise of legality of the school in Uzbekistan is not the only reason why schools are being closed. Public pressure in a few places in America has drawn attention to the façade. The Turkish Olympiad is teaching the Turkish language, dancing, and singing in charter schools, and then providing the better students with a trip to Turkey for a grand finale to show internationally how Turkish is the language of love and peace. Some parents and teachers are looking deeper into the curriculum to see the true agenda behind the schools. In the interim, however, the Gülen movement continues to advance rapidly. If it continues on its present course as first in Turkey and then in America, the wave of Gulen’s Islamic revolution will soon reach the entire world. Gulenists easily manipulate the public by propagating rumors and conspiracy theories, by establishing Islamic centers, charter schools, and non governmental organizations ( such as

Interfaith Dialogue), by sending graduate students from Turkey to teach in

universities, and by establishing a strong lobby in the U.S.

Tactics Then and Now

In his first conquest of Arabia, Muhammad was able to send missionaries among different clans for the propagation of Islam, some of whom accepted and some of whom did not with the consequence of facing heavy sanctions and taxes. Is Gülen not using the same method today? Particularly in US- Turkish relations and in other countries, not many people have focused on the work of the Gülen movement or the political impact of the movement. The adherents will tell you that they are non-partisan and do not affiliate with any party, but, nonetheless, when you talk about the newspapers, media, NGO, TV stations and his followers, it seems that in Turkey they are owned by the AKP party. If, however,  you go back and look at the archives of the Zaman newspaper or any other of the Gülen movement’s media, you will not see much open support of any particular politics, and especially you will never ever see any open criticism of the army , but instead Gülen praises the army as almost holy. Why did Gulenist at the one time praise the army, when they also argued that the army and its leader were engaging in secret affairs? Then the Gulenists demanded that the Kurdish people should apologize to the Military, because the one time Kurdish leader Leyla Zana said the military was responsible for all the illegal activities and kidnapping of people in southeastern Turkey.  However, if you look at the same newspaper, the same spokesperson, and the same leaders of movement, you will discover that they seem to target the military and declare the identical military a public enemy. 

I am not defending the military but showing the Gulen group’s public support the army and its praise of the military’s past clandestine operations, but its underlying opposition to the power formerly wielded by the military. 

Another example of Gülen and his followers’ denying that they are supporting one particular party but actively working in politics is their involvement in the campaign to change the Turkish Constitution.  Gulen’s media announced that “The 58 percent ‘yes’ outcome in the referendum pleased Gülen very much.” Gulen commented on the result, “If they asked me to name one positive thing our nation has done in the last two centuries for the future of the country, it is to change the constitution,” resulting in the end of the military era through a peaceful revolution. Gülen even admitted, as mentioned above, if he had power to bring dead people to vote yes for to change constitution, he would. Instead, he ordered many of his followers who are involved in mission work abroad to return to Turkey to vote yes.  Innumerable examples of the movements’ methods and tactics to gain the power are available but only after searching and analyzing the clandestine activities and statements. For example, they are not telling the truth to the American public, declaring that the network of more than 135 publically-funded charter schools that they control have no connection to Gülen and his followers when it is irrefutable that they do. They are manipulating the press, buying politicians, and courting academics. Even a casual perusal of the Niagara Foundation, the Raindrop Turkish Houses, or the Rumi Foundation will show accurate information. Most Americans, Asians, and Westerners think these Turks are just nice people from a foreign country, never pausing to consider their ulterior motive. Many people do not have any idea that the Gülen movement exists and know nothing about Gülen and his global mission, so that thousands of Americans,  Asians, and Westerners have been manipulated into taking Gulenists-led trips to Turkey, attending Gulenists’ dinners and events, writing books, becoming propaganda tools, and accepting awards and Noah udding from them. Many academics, diplomats, and students do not seem to have any awareness of the propagandist nature of the trips that are very carefully and skillfully choreographed by the members of the Gulenist organization. They are taking people to only select places, where people stay strictly on script.

People think that everything seems so natural, so convincing, and so kind, that they believe it is all sincere. The people who organize the trips are the charter schools, NGOs or Interfaith Dialogue, and they have the plan down to a routine because they have orchestrated these efforts on numerous occasions and for many years. This kind of trip is often paid for by the BAKIAD, Bosporus- Atlantic Association of Cultural Cooperation and Friendship, which is also linked to the Gulenist organization. Many people think they received a free trip to Turkey, but they do not realize that they just paid their benefactor back by publicizing exactly what they wanted them to say for them. Many people discuss the Gulenist education model, understanding only the barest of its goals, but not the education model of chosing super intelligent youth, students from rich families, or intelligent but poor kids. For a long time they used the same recruitment among the Turkish people. Gulenists’ history is repeating itself.

Conclusion: Toehold to Stranglehold

The Gulenists are conducting a first class revolution, one that emulates Muhammad’s movement from Medina to Mecca in every detail. All the while they claim they are apolitical. In the case against the army in Turkey, they vehemently argued that they were not involved in politics and did not have any secret agenda-- until they got power, and now many of the military are in jail. Currently, they are doing the same thing in Western and American cities, claiming all the while that they are outside the political arena and do not have any secret agenda.  Just as in Turkey when Ekrem Dumanli, editor of the Zaman newspaper, writes an article in Gulen’s newspaper that influences the political process, are they not using the very weapon they disclaim?  When Husyin Gulerce writes in the Zaman newspaper, against the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and for the referendum on a new constitution, is he not impacting the political process? Because they believe followers do not have to tell the truth every time or in every situation, they are fooling the Turkish military and secularists alike, and now they are fooling the West and America as well.

In his home country Gülen and his followers had very different experiences than in America. There the people initially reacted very harshly to his followers and his teaching. Gülen’s conversions were slow and limited to certain people, and even then the movement were under scrutiny. Before the 1997’s alleged coup plot, the military made a series of attempts to close Gülen‘s schools and topple other Islamic activities. The military also kicked out more than 250 of Gulen’s followers who had infiltrated the high ranks of the military. In 1999, after an incident involving the confiscation of his sermon tapes in which Gülen spoke of changing the secular government, Gülen left Turkey and emigrated for alleged health reason to the US to continue his mission activities there and to increase his power base. Now having opened schools in each of the fifty states, business companies, cadres of followers in universities, the Ebru TV station, the Zaman Today newspaper, the Turkish Coalition of America (TCA-a USA political action committee established to shape the American view of Turkey through public education), the Turkish PAC, the Turkish Coalition New Jersey Political Action Committee (TC- NJ PAC), and the Turkish Coalition California Pac(TC- CAL PAC), he has moved from having a toehold to a stranglehold in America. Even a preliminary glimpse at the TCA website would confirm the agenda of this concerted Turkish Islamic movement to assert control over the American political process. Gülen brings thousands of his students from Central Asia and the Balkans to the US to set up sister coalitions.  He and his followers are challenging even the Jewish and Armenian lobbyist in the US. They have opened charter schools with the audacity of purchasing churches to convert them to Islamic charter schools, like the conversion of the Hagias Sophia Church in Istanbul to a mosque. These schools and teachers promote one thing-- Turkish nationalism--and indoctrinate students in the Turkish brand of Islam. They boast about winning awards, but the only ones they win are in contests that the Gulen movement and their own foundations sponsor, for example, the Turkish Olympiad, the Science Olympiad, and Math challenges. The educational initiative of charter schools is a platform and business for them because they can manage it very cheaply and make the numbers look good. Many naïve people who do not take the time to investigate the under workings think the schools are all about cultural understanding, sharing, and acceptance, but they actually advocate the opposite values. I am asking those Western professors who have become Gulen’s and his movement’s outspoken representatives in the US and around the world, did you ever do research on was Gulen‘s view on the Vatican? Did they ever let you listen to one of his speech accusing the Vatican of being the mother of all evil and scum responsible for bloodshed around the world? Gulenist are only wearing the clothes of democracy, tolerance, justice, and equality for the sake of getting total power around the world. In Turkey they have already toppled the secular government in the media and the military in the judiciary, and now their dream is global power. Those who do not see this are living in a fantasy.

Magnolia Science Academy - A Gulen Charter School: Magnolia Science - Movie based on Gulen "Five Mina...

Magnolia Science Academy - A Gulen Charter School: Magnolia Science - Movie based on Gulen "Five Mina...

Gulen Charter Schools in the USA- USA Today Article "Turkish Ties to Charter Schools in question"



Prophet Muhammed Fethullah Gulen in seclusion, not wearing his Islamic Imam prayer robe
Does drop the name "Muhammed"



http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-08-17-turkishfinal17_CV_N.htm

Excerpts from USA article:

Top administrators say they have no official ties to Gülen. And Gülen himself denies any connection to the schools. Still, documents available at various foundation websites and in federal forms required of non-profit groups show that virtually all of the schools have opened or operate with the aid of Gülen-inspired "dialogue" groups, local non-profits that promote Turkish culture. In one case, the Ohio-based Horizon Science Academy of Springfield in 2005 signed a five-year building lease with the parent organization of Chicago's Niagara Foundation, which promotes Gülen's philosophy of "peace, mutual respect, the culture of coexistence." Gülen is the foundation's honorary president. In many cases, charter school board members also serve as dialogue group leaders.

Education officials who are familiar with them say the schools aren't trying to proselytize for Gülen's vision of Turkey. While Turkish language and culture are often offered in the curriculum, there's no evidence the schools teach Islam.

But questions about hiring and academics also have arisen in Arizona, where Daisy Education Corp. runs five schools and has received certifications for 120 H-1B visas for foreign teachers since 2002, records show. In Texas, the Cosmos Foundation has filed 1,157 H1-B applications since 2001. It operates 25 Harmony schools statewide. Since 2001, Harmony has imported 731 employees using H-1Bs, surpassing all other secondary education providers nationwide. Parents last year also accused one Harmony school of "pushing out" underperforming students — a charge the Texas Education Agency confirmed.

Ed Fuller, a University of Texas-Austin researcher, found that Harmony schools throughout Texas had an "extraordinarily high" student attrition rate of about 50% for students in grades six through eight.

Crossing the line?

At minimum, the rapid growth of the Turkish-affiliated schools shows how the freewheeling world of charter schools has changed the face of K-12 education in the USA.

In most cases, charters are loosely regulated in exchange for improved performance. A few schools are affiliated with religious groups or offer programs that others can't. But in several cases, a school's orientation has forced it to show that it's not crossing lines and endorsing religion.

Gulen Schools Worldwide: Gulen Schools Worldwide- Gulen keeps beating the s...

Gulen Schools Worldwide: Gulen Schools Worldwide- Gulen keeps beating the s...

The Gulen Movement: Keeping Secrets

Minnesota School of Science a Gulen Charter School slated to open Fall 2011

Gulen in the land of Vikings plans a new charter school in Minneapolis
Minnesota School of Science

Everyone, this new Gulen Charter School is slated to open Fall of 2011 PLEASE contact the Minnesota school board.  Start blogging about it now, contact all of your groups in Minnesota.  Concept schools has to be STOPPED!  They have not filed Income Tax since 2006, yet they are claiming a non-profit status.  They are siphoning 10% fees from each child enrolled in their schools: Horizon Science Academys, Nobel Academy, Gateway Science Academy, Indiana Science Academy, Chicago Math and Science Academy.  
THIS WILL BE THE GULEN MOVEMENTS FIRST CHARTER SCHOOL IN MINNESOTA, they are aiming to be in every state and every country.   We managed to stop the Mokapu School in HI, and the expansion of the Colorado school (Lotus School for Excellence)  We have even caused caution to the new Tennessee School (Knoxville Charter Academy) that may or may NOT open as well as Richmond Science Academy.  YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE DO SOMETHING.

http://schoolchoice.mpls.k12.mn.us/minneapolis_schools_sponsored_charter_schools.html
Minnesota School of Science
Location: TBD/Opening fall 2011www.mssonline.org
Ph: 612.567.7281
Grades: K-8 (accepting K-5 only for fall 2011)
Contact: Ahmet Akyol
The Minnesota School of Science (MSS) is a college preparatory public charter school serving students in grades K-5 and will add one grade per year up to eighth grade. The program implements a proven, successful educational model created by Concept Schools (SEE INFO BELOW ABOUT CONCEPT SCHOOLS). MSS prepares its students for college by creating an effective learning environment of high expectations and standards through a rigorous curriculum that focuses on math, science and technology. Longer school days and an extended school year, small class sizes, personalized education, ongoing assessments of learning effectiveness, state-of-the-art computer and science labs and a highly-skilled and dedicated staff distinguish MSS from other schools.
Academically, the Minnesota School of Science employs a comprehensive support system that includes: one-on-one tutoring, pull-out programs, Saturday school programs, summer and winter camps and much more. Parents of MSS students have online access to the classroom records of their children, such as homework scores, current grades, attendance records and assessment results. MSS also offers many extracurricular opportunities, such as after-school clubs, field trips, cultural exchange programs, advanced study teams and athletics. The program will also employ a uniform policy for students. For more information, please visit our website at www.mssonline.org or contact us via e-mail at info@mssonline.org

http://horizonparentstruth.blogspot.com/2010/12/concept-schools-seeks-93-million-bond.html
                            (CONCEPT SCHOOLS)

 Gulenists that are reading, we are one step in front of you and one step in back. Remember the walls have eyes and ears.

Are you aware that this new proposed school under the Concept Schools is part of the Gulen Movement?  Do you know who Islamic Imam Muhammed Fethullah Gulen is?  Or why he was exiled out of Turkey?

Your school district has been conned, these school are horrid and the education in Turkey is one of the worst in the world.

Do your RESEARCH and learn what Gulen's grand ambition is and how he preaches to "move into the arteries of the system until you reach all power centers"

The Gulen Movement manages to do this by manipulating: Interfaith Dialog, Media, Education, Politics, Police and Military.  When you see politicians, Academia and media in your area going on FREE trips to Turkey and interacting with the Gulen NGOs you are in grave trouble.

http://www.gulencharterschools.weebly.com

http://www.charterschoolwatchdog.com

http://www.charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com

http://www.gulencharterschoolsusa.blogspot.com

Read the h1-b Visa report below, they are claiming they cannot find math, science, computer and English teachers in the USA.  These schools have recently been busted in Ohio for hiring foreigners via the Concept Schools.  http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2010/nov/23/public-charter-school-funds-under-scrutiny-ar-301282/

H1-b Visa info here:  http://www.h1bwage.com/index.php?q=science%20teacher

UPDATE 1/11/2011- BOARD OF DIRECTORS FOR PROPOSED NEW GULEN MINNESOTA SCHOOL OF SCIENCE.......and they continue to lie and say "there is no affliation with Gulen."

Minnesota School of Science: Board members on application

Murat Ergen

President

Dr. Gene Scapanski

Member

Ahmet Akyol

Member

Dr. Ozer Asdemir

Treasurer

Dr. John Sailors

Member

Dr. Ahmet Celenli

Member

Loan Huynh

Member

Dr. Rosilyn Carroll

Member

Mustafa Igdelioglu

Member

Minnesota School of Science

Akyol	Ahmet	Minnesota School of Science: contact person for proposed Concept-sponsored school to open fall 2011 http://schoolchoice.mpls.k12.mn.us/minneapolis_schools_sponsored_charter_schools.html Minnesota School of Science: board member on application Harmony Foundation, Inc.: contact person; 5200 W. Loomis Rd. Greendale, WI  [see below]
Asdemir	Ozer	Minnesota School of Science: treasurer on application University of St Thomas, Opus College of Business: accounting; asst professor UT Dallas: PhD management science
Carroll	Rosilyn	Minnesota School of Science: board member on application Hamline University: school of education asst professor AKA Bishop Aya Involved in interfaith events http://www.examiner.com/progressive-spirituality-in-st-paul/meanwhile-back-st-paul-sept-11-became-an-interfaith-occasion-to-learn-not-burn
Celenli	Ahmet M. AKA Matt	Minnesota School of Science: board member on application Lighthouse Academy of Nations Public Charter High School: math teacher and board member (former?) http://www.lighthouse.charter.k12.mn.us/staff/Ahmet_Celenli.htm U of M PhD geology Turkish Cultural Center of Rochester: president; gave speech at “Friendship Dinner” http://www.tccrochester.com/tccr/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=77&Itemid=420
Ergen	Murat	Domain name registrant for co-ta.org, Colorado Turkish-American Chamber of Commerce** Northern Lights Society of Minnesota: president Minnesota School of Science: board president on application University of St. Thomas: Data management MS 2003-05 Ergenomics: president of his company since March 2008
Huynh	Loan	Minnesota School of Science: board member on application Fredrickson & Byron: immigration lawyer http://www.fredlaw.com/bios/attorneys/huynhloan/
Igdelioglu	Mustafa	Minnesota School of Science: board member on application Fairleigh Dickenson U.: Civil engineering faculty 2008 Name affiliated w/addresses in NJ, PA, Syracuse NY, & MN
Sailors	John	Minnesota School of Science: board member on application University of St Thomas, Opus College of Business: marketing; asst professor
Scapanski	Gene	Minnesota School of Science: board member on application University of St Thomas: retired seminary professor and administrator http://www.stthomas.edu/bulletin/2008/04/14/dr-gene-scapanski-vice-president-for-mission-to-retire-in-june/ Niagara Foundation - Minnesota: speaker at Iftar Dinner, 9/2008

Murat Ergen, slated Board President of new Minnesotoa School of Science
Merhaba Murat.....tell us all about your educational experience.  According to your linked in
profile your background of the last 8 years shows that you just started Ergenomics and before
worked at Wells Fargo in Mortgage lending.  What qualifies you as a Board President of a School?
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ergenomics

Gulen Charter Schools- Dj Fettoş feat.Dansöz Tayyip (Techno)

Gulen Charter Schools Fethullah Gülen Godfather

Gulen Charter Schools-Gulen Movement CIA Front by Ex Turkish Intel

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2011/01/islamic_group_is_cia_front_ex-.html

GULEN MOVEMENT CIA FRONT BY EX TURKISH INTELLIGENCE

Islamic group is CIA front, ex-Turkish intel chief says

By Jeff Stein

A memoir by a top former Turkish intelligence official claims that a worldwide moderate Islamic movement based in Pennsylvania has been providing cover for the CIA since the mid-1990s.

The memoir, roughly rendered in English as “Witness to Revolution and Near Anarchy,” by retired Turkish intelligence official Osman Nuri Gundes, says the religious-tolerance movement, led by an influential former Turkish imam by the name of Fethullah Gulen, has 600 schools and 4 million followers around the world.

In the 1990s, Gundes alleges, the movement "sheltered 130 CIA agents" at its schools in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan alone, according to a report on his memoir Wednesday by the Paris-based Intelligence Online newsletter.

The book has caused a sensation in Turkey since it was published last month.

Gulen could not be reached for comment.

But two ex-CIA officials with long ties to Central Asia cast doubt on Gundes’s charges.

Former CIA operative Robert Baer, chief of the agency’s Central Asia and Caucasus operations from 1995 through 1997, called the allegations bogus. "The CIA didn't have any ‘agents’ in Central Asia during my tenure,” he said.

It’s possible, Baer granted, that the CIA “turned around this ship after I left,” but only the spy agency could say for sure, and the CIA does not comment on operational sources and methods.

A U.S. intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said Gundes’s “accounts are ringing no bells whatsoever.”

Likewise, Graham Fuller, a former CIA station chief in Kabul and author of “The Future of Political Islam,” threw cold water on Gundes’s allegations about Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

“I think the story of 130 CIA agents in Gulen schools in Central Asia is pretty wild,” Fuller said by e-mail.

“I should hasten to add that I left CIA in 1987 -- nearly 25 years ago -- and I have absolutely no concrete personal knowledge whatsoever about this. But my instincts tell me the claim is highly improbable.”

Fuller added, “I cannot even imagine trying to credibly sell such a scheme with a straight face within the agency. As for Nuri Gundes, I am not aware of who he is or what he has written. But there is a lot of wild stuff floating around in Turkey on these issues and Gulen is a real hot button issue.”

Imam Gulen, “whose views are usually close to U.S. policy,” according to Intelligence Online, favors toleration of all religions, putting his movement in direct competition with al-Qaeda and other radical groups for the affection of Muslims across Central Asia, the Middle East and even Europe and Africa, where it has also expanded its reach.

Gundes, who was Istanbul station chief for Turkey’s MIT intelligence agency, “personally supervised several investigations into Gulen’s movement in the 1990s,” according to the newsletter’s report on his memoir, which has not been translated into English. The purpose of Gundes's investigation was not immediately clear. His own religious views could not be determined, but the influence of radical Islamist forces in Turkey swelled in the 1990s.

The imam left Turkey in 1998 and settled in Saylorsburg, Pa., where the movement is headquartered. According to Intelligence Online, he obtained a residence permit only in 2008 with the help of Fuller and George Fidas, whom it described as head of the agency’s outreach to universities.

Fuller says that’s wrong.

“I did not recommend him for a residence permit or anything else. As for George Fidas, I have never even heard of him and don't know who he is.”

“What I did do,” Fuller explained, “was write a letter to the FBI in early 2006 …at a time when Gulen's enemies were pressing for his extradition to Turkey from the U.S. In the post 9/11 environment, they began spreading the word that he was a dangerous radical. In my statement to the FBI I offered my views…that I did not believe he posed a security threat of any kind to the U.S. I still believe that today, as do a large body of scholars on contemporary Islam.

“I do not at all consider Gulen a radical or dangerous.” Fuller continued. “Indeed in my view--and I have studied a lot of Islamist movements worldwide--his movement is perhaps one of the most encouraging in terms of the evolution of contemporary Islamic political and social thinking…”

Fidas could not be reached for comment, nor would the CIA answer questions about him. George Washington University’s Elliot School of International Affairs lists him as a visiting professor and “Director for Outreach in the Office of the Assistant Director of Central Intelligence for Analysis and Production.”

But the title was abolished when the Director of National Intelligence was created several years ago, an informed source said.

NOW FOR AN EVALUATION OF THIS ARTICLE BY EX-FBI TURKISH TRANSLATOR SIBEL DENIZ EDMONDS

http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2011/01/06/turkish-intel-chief-exposes-cia-operations-via-islamic-group-in-central-asia/

Turkish Intel Chief Exposes CIA Operations via Islamic Group in Central Asia

Thursday, 6. January 2011

“In the 1990s Gulen’s Madrasas sheltered 130 CIA agents” in Kyrgyzstan & Uzbekistan”

Yesterday Washington Post’s Jeff Stein published a very interesting but incomplete story regarding a recently published memoir by former Turkish Intelligence Chief Osman Nuri Gundes. Here is the title of his post: Islamic group is CIA front, ex-Turkish Intel chief says. For those of you familiar with my case and what I’ve been covering here at Boiling Frogs Post this exposé is ‘old news’ but nonetheless a vindication. As for those who are first-timers here or not that familiar with my case, this is an opportunity for a bit of background and to learn a few important points and facts that you won’t be getting from this ‘half-picture’ presented by the Washington Post.

In his memoir Gundes claims that Fethullah Gulen’s worldwide Islamic movement based in Pennsylvania has been providing cover for the CIA since the mid-1990s, and that in the 90s, the movement “sheltered 130 CIA agents” at its schools in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan alone.

Now, as I’ve done before, I am going to praise Jeff Stain, whom I know and like, for his solid journalistic talent and background and give him a few credits for actually covering this story (it is one of those ‘thou shall not cover’ areas in an agreement between the US mainstream media and the US government), before I bash the piece, its half-a..  coverage, incomplete background, and it’s incredibly lenient treatment of a shady-dubious-charlatan, a major player in this operation yet a major denier when confronted by Stein; Graham Fuller. Again, as before, I am going to blame it on the unfortunate situation of ‘having to sell your journalistic soul to earn your living.’

Gulen Sobbing at one of his famous sermons that got him put on Turkey's most wanted list

Let’s start with Gulen. The only background provided on Gulen is the following with only one link which takes you to Gulen’s marketing site:

…an influential former Turkish imam by the name of Fethullah Gulen, has 600 schools and 4 million followers around the world.

…

The imam left Turkey in 1998 and settled in Saylorsburg, Pa., where the movement is headquartered. According to Intelligence Online, he obtained a residence permit only in 2008 with the help of Fuller and George Fidas, whom it described as head of the agency’s outreach to universities.

There is no mention of Gulen’s decade-long ‘wanted’ status in Turkey (until recently), no mention of the ban on Gulen and his Madrasas in several Central Asian countries, no mention of various investigations of Gulen by other western countries, no mention of the unknown sources of his billions of dollars…As we all know except for a very few, and by that I mean a number in 100s if that, no one in this country has ever heard of this guy with his billions, with his castle in Pennsylvania, his hundreds of Madrasas, now hundreds of US charter schools, his dubious businesses….Yet, for an article as serious as this (Madrasas and mosques as CIA operation centers in Central Asia), the central figure in the story has been given one sentence; no history, no relevant facts…

Those of you who have not read our previous commentaries and updates on this topic can check them out here,  here, here, and here, and below is a list of a few Gulen related facts totally (mysteriously?) absent from Washington Post piece:

-In 1999 Gulen defected to the US shortly before his scandalous speech, where he is heard calling on his supporters to “work patiently and to creep silently into the institutions in order to seize power in the state”, became public. Turkish prosecutors demanded a ten-year sentence for Gülen for having “founded an organization that sought to destroy the secular apparatus of state and establish a theocratic state”. Mr. Gulen has not left the United States since.

-The Netherlands has taken major steps to cut funding to all Gülen associated organizations and is investigating his operations. The Turkish Fethullah Gülen movement is really an Islamic fundamentalist group, claims Rotterdam council member Anita Fähmel (Leefbaar Rotterdam) on the basis of her own study of the Turkish movement.

-The Russian government has banned all Gülen schools and the activities of the Nur sect in Russia. Over 20 Turkish followers of Gulen were deported from Russia in 2002-2004.

-In 1999 Uzbekistan closed all Gulen’s Madrasas and shortly afterward arrested eight journalists who were graduates of Gulen schools, and found them guilty of setting up an illegal religious group and of involvement in an extremist organization.

-In Turkmenistan, government authorities have placed Gulen’s schools under close scrutiny and have ordered them to scrap the history of religion from curriculums.

Now, back to the story and its other major short coming:

Apparently Mr. Stein was not able to reach Gulen for comment, so he moved on to his CIA sources with ‘long ties to  Central Asia.’ First he quotes his first source, Former CIA operative Robert Baer, chief of the agency’s Central Asia and Caucasus operations from 1995 through 1997, who called the allegations bogus. However, Mr. Baer added: “It’s possible that the CIA turned around this ship after I left.”

I don’t have a problem with Baer’s response. Based on what I personally know, US Islamization Operations in Central Asia via Gulen started in late 1997, early 1998. That brings me to what truly set me off, Stein’s second source and actually a character who is pointed to by the new memoir’s author – Graham Fuller:

Graham Fuller, a former CIA station chief in Kabul and author of “The Future of Political Islam,” threw cold water on Gundes’s allegations about Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

“I think the story of 130 CIA agents in Gulen schools in Central Asia is pretty wild,” Fuller said by e-mail.

“I should hasten to add that I left CIA in 1987 — nearly 25 years ago — and I have absolutely no concrete personal knowledge whatsoever about this. But my instincts tell me the claim is highly improbable.”

Next, Jeff Stein very gently confronts Fuller with the fact that according to the memoir and related media coverage Gulen obtained his US residence permit with his (Fuller’s) help, and Fuller denies it and says that’s ‘wrong,’:

“What I did do,” Fuller explained, “was write a letter to the FBI in early 2006 …at a time when Gulen’s enemies were pressing for his extradition to Turkey from the U.S. In the post 9/11 environment, they began spreading the word that he was a dangerous radical. In my statement to the FBI I offered my views…that I did not believe he posed a security threat of any kind to the U.S. I still believe that today, as do a large body of scholars on contemporary Islam.”

Graham Fuller, author "A World without Islam" a book heavily promoted by the Gulen Institute

First of all, there have been tens if not hundreds of articles establishing Graham Fuller as one of Gulen’s official references to the court for his residency, you can view some of these here, here, here. This quote comes from Foreign Policy Journal:

Fethullah Gulen became a green card holder despite serious opposition from FBI and from Homeland Security Department. Former CIA officers (formally and informally) such as Graham Fuller and Morton Abromovitz were some of the prominent references in Gulen’s green card application.

Next is the question of why. Why and in what capacity has Fuller been this active, this supportive, of Gulen? I am talking about this voluntary ‘I wrote a letter to the FBI on Gulen’ line:

…was write a letter to the FBI in early 2006 …at a time when Gulen’s enemies were pressing for his extradition to Turkey from the U.S. In the post 9/11 environment, they began spreading the word that he was a dangerous radical. In my statement to the FBI I offered my views…that I did not believe he posed a security threat of any kind to the U.S. I still believe that today, as do a large body of scholars on contemporary Islam.

And Stein let that slide?! I’d quickly ask: ‘how often do you write to the FBI on people you think have been unfairly targeted or treated by them?!’

Last but not least on Graham Fuller is my own on-the-record, more accurately, on-the-album, naming of individuals implicated (criminally) in my case, thus protected via invocation of the State Secrets Privilege:

Coinciding with the publication of the first article in a series in Britain’s Sunday Times covering some of her allegations, former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds posts a gallery of 18 photos of people and three images of question marks on her website, justacitizen.com The 21 images are divided into three groups, and the page is titled “State Secrets Privilege Gallery.”… “The third group includes people who all appear to work at think tanks—primarily WINEP, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy”: Graham E. Fuller—RAND Corporation, David Makovsky—WINEP, Alan Makovsky—WINEP, ? (box with question mark), ? (box with question mark), Yusuf Turani (president-in-exile, Turkestan), Professor Sabri Sayari (Georgetown, WINEP), and Mehmet Eymur (former head of the Turkish intelligence agency MIT).

…

I am going to leave you with the following excerpts from my interview with Phil Giraldi for the Am Con Magazine in 2009, on Gulen, CIA Central Asia operations & the use of Islam and Mujahideen there-1997-2001, [All emphasis mine]:

GIRALDI: You also have information on al-Qaeda, specifically al-Qaeda in Central Asia and Bosnia. You were privy to conversations that suggested the CIA was supporting al-Qaeda in central Asia and the Balkans, training people to get money, get weapons, and this contact continued until 9/11…

EDMONDS: I don’t know if it was CIA. There were certain forces in the U.S. government who worked with the Turkish paramilitary groups, including Abdullah Çatli’s group, Fethullah Gülen.

GIRALDI: Well, that could be either Joint Special Operations Command or CIA.

EDMONDS: Maybe in a lot of cases when they said State Department, they meant CIA?

GIRALDI: When they said State Department, they probably meant CIA.

EDMONDS: Okay. So these conversations, between 1997 and 2001, had to do with a Central Asia operation that involved bin Laden. Not once did anybody use the word “al-Qaeda.” It was always “mujahideen,” always “bin Laden” and, in fact, not “bin Laden” but “bin Ladens” plural. There were several bin Ladens who were going on private jets to Azerbaijan and Tajikistan. The Turkish ambassador in Azerbaijan worked with them.

There were bin Ladens, with the help of Pakistanis or Saudis, under our management. Marc Grossman was leading it, 100 percent, bringing people from East Turkestan into Kyrgyzstan, from Kyrgyzstan to Azerbaijan, from Azerbaijan some of them were being channeled to Chechnya, some of them were being channeled to Bosnia. From Turkey, they were putting all these bin Ladens on NATO planes. People and weapons went one way, drugs came back.

GIRALDI: Was the U.S. government aware of this circular deal?

EDMONDS: 100 percent. A lot of the drugs were going to Belgium on NATO planes. After that, they went to the UK, and a lot came to the U.S. via military planes to distribution centers in Chicago and Paterson, New Jersey. Turkish diplomats who would never be searched were coming with suitcases of heroin.