Since Ersin Konkur was a 15-year-old living in Turkey, he has been influenced by
the movement of Fethullah Gulen, a cleric who now lives in Pennsylvania and preaches
a moderate version of Islam and the teaching of science and math in schools worldwide.
Konkur was tutored by college students who were part of the movement, assistance that
Helped him get into one of the best universities in Istanbul. But after Konkur came to the
United States to teach math at schools inspired by Gulen's movement, his experience
was markedly different. According to Konkur, Turkish teachers at charter schools in
Texas and Utica were required to pay a portion of their taxpayer-funded salaries back to
the schools. When he ultimately refused to pay the "tithe," Konkur says, he was fired in
2015 from the Utica Academy of Science.
The school strongly denies forcing the payment of any sort of kickback.
Konkur, who says he gave back about $10,000 of his salary over his first year teaching in
Utica, provided the Times Union with what he said were copies of checks he wrote to
charities in Rochester that share an address with a prominent arm of the Gulen movement.
According to a March report by CBS News, the FBI is investigating whether money is
being skimmed from taxpayer-funded charter schools in America that are aligned with
Gulen, with the goal of funding his movement in Turkey. More than 140 schools in
the United States, which focus on the teaching of math and science, are considered
to be part of the movement.
In upstate New York, schools that observers believe are Gulen-inspired operate in Buffalo,
Rochester, Syracuse and Utica. The schools and their governing boards are dominated by
Turkish men, many of them here on visas meant for highly skilled workers.Ersoy also stressed
that Konkur had met with Robert Amsterdam, an attorney retained
by the Turkish government to research and file litigation targeting the Gulen movement.
Turkey's increasingly authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, blames Gulen
— who fled from Turkey in 1999 — for fomenting a July 2016 coup attempt f
rom Pennsylvania, a charge Gulen denies.
"Since leaving (Utica Academy), Mr. Konkur has been a constant critic of the school
, spreading misrepresentations about it and its personnel whenever an opportunity
presents itself — just as he has with you," Ersoy said. "To be very clear, the allegations you
report that he made to you regarding UASCS are entirely false. I would point out that if these
things had occurred, Mr. Konkur could and should have reported them to the New York State
Department of Labor or the U.S. Department of Labor, which would have investigated
and addressed any such conduct. However, he never reported these allegations to any governmental agency."
http://www.caller.com/story/news/education/2017/06/30/school-science-and-technology-open-new-campus/429801001/
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