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.