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Kemal Oksuz (AKA fondly called the little troll) of the Gulen Movement, who is also a part of the Gulen Turquoise Council, and other Gulen front
groups is seen here at yet another Gulen Institute dialog dinner with an award for Ambassader Ahmed.
The Turquoise Council is implicated in the latest FBI Raid on the Kenliworth Science and Technology School in Louisana.
The Turquoise Council is one of the Gulen Front Groups that sponsors tribes to Turkey and Azerbaijan for politicians, academia and media in the USA. Kemal Oksuz was also one of the biggest campaign contributors to Lousiana politicians to squash the bill that would limit foreign operators of American tax supported charter schools.
MORE ON KEMAL OKSUZ HERE
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about the FBI RAID HERE:
The FBI indicated that the raid,
which evidently was conducted to gather material evidence in the form of
documents and computers, was not a matter of public safety. As a result, it
probably was not related to a report earlier this year
that a teacher at the school was accused of having inappropriate pictures of
children on his cell phone.
Had those charges stuck, that would
have been the second scandal of a sexual nature
involving a Gulenist school in Louisiana. Abramson Science &
Technology Charter School in New Orleans was shut down back in 2011 in the wake
of a scandal that started as an investigation into sexual activity involving
students at the school and evolved into a possible public bribery
investigation. Abramson operated under the same charter organization that
Kenilworth operates under: Pelican Educational Foundation.
During the course of the
investigation into Abramson, Pelican’s ties to the Gulenist movement were
revealed.
By now you’re wondering what the
Gulenist movement is, no doubt. The Gulenist movement is a secretive,
controversial Islamist movement founded by Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish Islamic
scholar with a controversial history and a great many followers and admirers in
both the Islamic and Western worlds. However, a close analysis of Gulen and his
movement reveals what may very well be a disturbing threat, rather than the
benign movement that many suppose. (Gulen fled Turkey for the US in 1998 and
settled in a massive, fortified compound in rural Pennsylvania.)
Gulen preaches peace on the one hand
– while on the other hand, credible reports indicate that the
Gulenists control the secret police and judicial bureaucracy in Turkey,
both of which have been key to brutally suppressing recent pro-democracy
protests there. But Gulen’s primary relevance to Americans comes from something
quite peculiar – namely, the fact that his movement is associated with roughly
1,200 schools in numerous countries around the globe, including
approximately 135 schools here in the USA. The American Gulenist schools
are mostly taxpayer-subsidized charter schools and there is much to be
concerned about, both in terms of their goals and operations. And Americans –
and in particular those Americans charged with credentialing these schools –
know scant little about with whom they’re dealing.
In reviewing the long-form
literature on Fethullah Gulen, without exception, every single book about Gulen
paints him in a positive, almost saint-like light. In order to fully grasp the
man and his motivations, one has to read his own work – the most troubling and
revealing of which is his 1998 book Prophet Muhammad as Commander.
While much of the book details the
life of Muhammad as a military commander and political leader, the opening
sections of the book reveal more about the author than they reveal about
Muhammad, about whom much is already known and documented. The first 37 pages
of Prophet Muhammad as Commander contain revealing, troubling passages
that provide a window on Fethullah Gulen’s views on Jihad and warfare.
In Prophet Muhammad as Commander,
Gulen explains Muslim hostility toward non-Muslims in a similar manner that
most non-Muslims will find at least very curious:
“For this reason, a Muslim’s enmity
towards unbelievers is, in fact, in the form of pitying them.”
Gulen ties this pity in with the
concept of “compassion.” Unbelievers who deny that Allah is the only god and
that Muhammad was his prophet are thought to be committing an “injustice.” Out
of “compassion” for those unbelievers and to prevent them from committing
further injustice, Muslims have enmity towards them and in some cases fight
them as enemies.
Jihad as a concept fits in with
justice. In fact, according to Gulen (page 20), Jihad is integral to justice:
“God does not approve wrongdoing and
disorder. He wills that human beings should live in peace and, accordingly,
that justice should prevail amongst them. It is therefore incumbent upon those
who believe in One God and worship Him faithfully to secure justice in the
world. Islam calls this responsibility jihad.”
Gulen then goes on to explain the
various forms of jihad, including warfare. Again, on page 20, Gulen states the
purpose of Jihad:
“…to establish the supremacy of His
religion and to make His Word prevail.”
In the same section, Gulen then
clearly articulates the aim of establishing a worldwide caliphate:
“Besides the holy struggle, the
principle of amr bi ‘l-ma’ruf wa nahy an al-munkar (enjoining the good
and forbidding the evil) seeks to convey the Message of Islam to all human
beings in the world and to establish a model Islamic community on a world-wide
basis.”
Most ominously, Gulen makes a call
in the book that reads an awful lot like a call for the Islamic world to
acquire nuclear weaponry:
“…believers should also equip
themselves with the most sophisticated weaponry. Force has an important place
in obtaining the desired result, so believers cannot be indifferent to it.
Rather they must be much more advanced in science and technology than
unbelievers so that they should not allow unbelievers to use ‘force’ for their
selfish benefit. According to Islam, ‘right is might’; so, in order to prevent
might from being right in the hands of unbelievers and oppressors, believers
must be mightier than others.”
“An Islamic state…should be able to
secure peace and justice in the world and no power should have the courage to
make corruption in any part of the earth. This will be possible when Muslims
equip themselves with a strong belief and righteousness in all their affairs,
and also with scientific knowledge and the most sophisticated technology.”
What does all this have to do with a
charter school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana? Well, Gulen’s most significant
foreign enterprise is his network of charter schools. As such, it is important
for people to be aware of the philosophy of the man who started the movement.
Gulenist
Charter School Scandals
The one overriding characteristic of
Gulen charter schools here in America seems to be their propensity for scandal
of all sorts. Here is a partial list of articles online dealing with these
scandals. In reviewing this list, ask yourself: should taxpayer money be going
to a foreign organization founded by an Islamist whose schools seem fraught
with scandal?
1.
Turkish-Gulen Charter Schools Under Federal Investigation
The FBI, the Department of Education
and the Department of Labor are reported to be investigating a systematic kick-back scheme
used by the charter school employees to funnel money—taxpayer sourced
money—to the Gulen movement.
2.
Discrimination lawsuit filed against Truebright Science Academy Charter School
in Pennsylvania
Truebright is a Turkish-Gulen
charter school. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported in its 6 April 2013
online edition that a former English teacher at the school had filed a civil
rights suit alleging the Turkish-run charter school discriminated against
employees based on gender and national origin. In addition to the suit, at
least nine Truebright staffers filed initial discrimination complaints with the
EEOC.
Truebright’s board, top
administrators and 1/3 of its teachers are Turkish.
3.
Louisiana Gulen Charter School Scandal
Abramson Science & Technology
Charter School in eastern New Orleans was shut down by the state of Louisiana.
Among the reasoning for the decision: (i) Turkish teachers who had trouble
communicating in English; (ii) Students attending courses with no teachers;
(iii) Possible improprieties involving standardized testing; (iv) Allegations
of attempted public bribery by Turkish organizations of Louisiana Department of
Education officials.
4.
Lancaster, Pennsylvania school districts rejects Gulen Charter School application
It is not necessarily noteworthy
that a Gulen charter application would be opposed, or even rejected, but the
reasons behind this rejection indicate
oddities at best, namely errors cited in the application, including
carelessness and numerous “cut and paste” segments from other charter school
applications which had no relevance to the application at hand. A total lack of
knowledge by the applicants of curriculum planning and a probably insufficient
amount of lesson plans.(This would appear to border on fraud.)
5.
Ohio Gulen Charter Schools Targeted by Department of Labor Investigation
The federal investigation which we
mentioned at the outset of this memorandum is not the only mention of Gulen
charter schools as targets of federal investigation. In 2011, one of the
sixteen Gulen charter schools in Ohio was reportedly targeted by the Department of Labor
for its use of H1-B visas. The investigation had been ongoing since 2008.
Auditors found some very unusual
line item entries on the school administrator’s books, including fees paid to
people living in Turkey and people never employed by the school. There was even
an item listed as $13,000 for “illegal immigration fees.”
Note also that the property owner of
the schools, from which the schools lease property, is located in Turkey. That
property owner gets $600,000 over 5 years of Ohio taxpayer money!
6.
Peoria, Illinois Gulen Charter School Operator Denies Association with Gulen
The operator of Quest Charter
Academy in Peoria, Illinois, Engin Blackstone (aka Elgin Karatas), told CBS’ 60
Minutes that his school had no association with Fethullah Gulen. However, that
may have been a lie. In this article, in the comments section, the spouse
of a former Quest employee claims that her husband accompanied
Blackstone/Karatas on a trip to visit personally with Gulen in Pennsylvania.
7.
Massachusetts Gulen School Gets High Marks Despite Bad Data
- Students with disabilities experienced a high attrition
rate, possibly impacting test scores.
- The overall attrition rate among students was unusually
high.
- $84,215 of the school’s annual budget went to legal and
immigration-related fees. An interesting sidenote, while Pioneer was
hiring foreign teachers to fill its needs, a Boston charter school (not a
Turkish-Gulen school) had openings for 58 teachers and received 4,100
applicants!
- Only 56.7% of Pioneer’s teachers were licensed in their
teaching assignment. By comparison, in local public schools, 99.5% of
teachers were licensed and statewide in Massachusetts, the figure was
97.5%.
8.
Loudon County, Virginia School Board Turns Down Charter for Gulen School
This received a great deal of
publicity. Again, that the charter was denied is
not the story. The reasons why the charter was denied is the story:
- Significant gaps in academic and operational plans
submitted by the applicants:
- Loose curriculum
- Questionable financial assumptions
- Inadequate transportation plan
The Loudon school was going to be
modeled after a Gulen school in Anne Arundel County
that had a troubled past with questionable management practices, including
financial ones. In fact the school ended up in a lawsuit with the school board
over its charter.
We could easily supply a dozen more
examples of Gulen schools with sketchy – or worse – administrative, ethical and
academic issues. The movement has a very ugly record of performance as a
charter school operator, so much so that since the Gulen movement is the largest operator of charter schools in
America the repeated instances of scandal threaten the charter
school movement. That’s a shame – charters in New Orleans have shown great
potential for educational improvement thanks to their record in New Orleans,
but the teachers’ unions and others invested in the educational status quo are
seeking any angle to derail their progress.
And the never-ending string of
scandals surrounding Gulen schools is just such an angle.
The
Louisiana Connection And Wednesday’s FBI Raid
One recurring theme in all Gulenist
schools is their use of the H1-B visa program to import male teachers from
Turkey to teach at the schools. This activity has gotten the movement accused
of discrimination, and worse. In many cases American teachers have lost out on
jobs, only to find out that the Turkish aliens brought in to teach in their
place could barely speak English.
Further, allegations have been made
that what’s really going on with all the H1-B visa recipients brought in as
teachers in Gulen schools is an intricate fleecing of taxpayers, which works
like this: the going rate for charter school teachers in a given community
might be, for example, $40,000 – and the state funding for a charter school
would reflect salaries of that size. But in Turkey, a $40,000 salary would be
considered a king’s ransom – per capita income in that country was
just $15,200 last year. Therefore, the Gulen schools won’t encounter
much resistance when it tells teachers it offers to import from Turkey that
they’ll have to kick back a huge portion of their taxpayer-funded income to the
Gulen movement – and thus that’s exactly, it’s alleged, what happens.
This caught the attention of State
Representative Cameron Henry in the 2013 legislative session when he filed a bill that would have limited the number
of employees hired by Louisiana state-funded charter schools who were in the
country on H1-B visas. Henry’s legislation would have gotten right to the heart
of the matter – with a very reasonable restriction that no more than 3.5
percent of the school’s employees be H1-B visa recipients (or 1 in 29), and
that the people or groups submitting requests to start charter schools be
American citizens.
Unfortunately, Henry’s bill hit hard
where it hurt for some powerful, politically connected people in Louisiana. It
seems that the number one donor to the Louisiana Republican Party
in 2012 was none other than a Gulenist organization out of Texas. Kemal Oksuz,
president of the Turquoise Council, a Texas-based group closely related to the
Gulenist movement and the Harmony charter schools in that state, donated
$83,000 to the state GOP, making him its largest donor during 2012.
I am not making an accusation that
this donation bought the Gulen movement any special treatment by the state GOP,
or the Jindal administration. In fact, members of that administration told
supporters of the Henry bill that they were in favor of it.
But the charter school industry
itself, which has stood by silently as this foreign influence in US education
spawns scandal after scandal, didn’t share that position. In Louisiana the
industry went even further, defending Kenilworth and Pelican despite the prior
scandal involving Abramson. This took the form of hiring high-priced,
politically-connected lobbyists to label Henry’s bill “racist” and
“xenophobic.”
The question is, does the charter
school industry know about all of these disturbing details surrounding the
Gulenist movement and its charter schools and choose to look the other way, or
are they simply ignorant as to the facts?
With the FBI raid a new chapter in
this saga has opened in Louisiana – and the charter school industry and
lobbyists won’t be able to run interference for the Islamists any more. For
many of us who are in favor of school choice and charter schools, the
Kenilworth-Gulen debacle is a disaster on two levels: first, granting charters
and dispensing taxpayer dollars to an Islamist movement with such a shady
history is outrageous and dangerous in its own right. And second, there will be
real damage from this scandal – damage those who are comfortable trapping
disadvantaged children in lousy public schools will use to their advantage.
- See more
at:
http://thehayride.com/2013/12/holton-maybe-now-theyll-pay-attention-to-the-gulen-schools/#sthash.J1olEoNy.dpuf
