Harmony Science Academy- Article by Steve Elwart

02/05/2011

The Gulen Movement: Islam Taught in Charter Schools

by Steve Elwart, IDB Folio Specialist  |  KHouse.org  |  February 2011 
Over the last twenty years there has been a movement in schools that has changed the way many children are educated—charter schools. Charter schools are public schools, Kindergarten through 12^th grade, that receive public money, but are not subject to the same rules that apply to other public schools. In return, charter schools are accountable to achieve certain goals that are outlined in the school charter.
The goal of a charter school is to provide a better education than can be received though the normal public schools. Some of the schools specialize in certain fields; i.e., mathematics and the sciences. Attendance at charter schools is voluntary and the schools are not allowed to charge tuition. In most cases, the charter schools are doing well—59% of the schools have a waiting list to enroll.¹
Within the charter school system, though, there is a danger. There is a group of charter schools that may be teaching more than ABC’s. They have innocuous names like Chicago Math and Science Academy and Pioneer Charter School of Science. Currently, they are educating as many as 35,000 students in 100 publicly funded schools and make up the largest charter school network in the United States. They promote an Islamic agenda, but receive government money, unlike other religious schools in the United States. These are the schools that are part of what is called Fethullah Gülen Community (FGC), also known as “the Gülen Movement.”

Over the past 10 years, the schools have imported thousands of Turkish educators to work in the schools, most of them with ties to a Turkish Muslim named Fethullah Gülen, who lives in a small Pennsylvania town called Saylorsburg. Gülen is described by his followers as a moderate Muslim and has been called “contemporary Islam’s Billy Graham.”²
Who is Fethullah Gülen?
Fethullah Gülen (pictured) is a Turkish preacher who has started a worldwide network of Muslims to take the principles of Islam and move the religion into the modern world. He was born in 1938 in a village in eastern Turkey. His father was an Imam, and from him, Gülen learned the principles of Islam.
Gülen’s beliefs are connected to Sufism, a mystical form of Islam. He became an Imam in his own right in 1957 when he was appointed to a mosque in Edirne, Turkey, near the Bulgarian border. It was there he came to learn the teachings of Said-i Nursi (1876-1960), a politically active Kurdish preacher. Nursi taught that Muslims should not reject modernity, but engage with it. Gülen put Nursi’s ideas into practice when he was transferred to a mosque in Izmir in 1966. (Izmir is the present-day name for Smyrna, one of the Seven Churches Christ wrote to in Revelation 2.) From this pro-Western base, Gülen started a network of student boarding-houses known as “lighthouses.”
It was in Izmir that Gülen applied Nursi’s teaching to create a network of private schools, residences and later universities and turn them into centers of excellence promoting a modern, Islam-based ethical framework.³ From this base in Turkey, Gülen expanded his network into countries that make up the former Soviet Union, the Balkans and finally the West. He started to make inroads into the secular world in earnest after he moved to the United States in 1997.
Once in the United States, Gülen applied for permanent re-sidency, which was denied. The Department of Homeland Security characterized Gülen as neither an expert in the field of education nor an educator but rather as “the leader of a large and influential religious and political movement with immense commercial holdings.”⁴ (His formal education is limited to five years of elementary school.)⁵ In their written denial, U.S. attorneys for the Department of Homeland Security also stated a suspicion about CIA involvement in funding the Gülen Movement’s global projects. His visa was approved after his appeal, with the help of several CIA agents. Gülen moved to South-eastern Pennsylvania and established his network of schools in the United States.
Gülen’s Educational Philosophy and Gülen Schools
A religious-based educational philosophy is one of Gülen’s primary themes; he has very specific notions about the way in which children should be instructed in schools, some of which are described in “The Educational Philosophy of Fethullah Gülen and Its Application in South Africa.”
The Gülen charter schools are founded and operated by Turkish immigrants (male scientists and businessmen) who can often be tied to the American Gülenist organizations. An unusually strong pattern of similarities in their establishment and operation indicates that these U.S. schools are likely tied into a larger network of international Gülen schools. However, the operators of the schools are extremely reluctant to discuss Gülen, the Gülen Movement, or Gülen’s approach to education. Sometimes they will admit that the schools are “Gülen-inspired.”
The schools’ connection to Gülen’s educational philosophy is never volunteered to the public; it is not mentioned on the web sites or in the charter school petitions. In other countries, the Gülen schools are tuition-based, but as charter schools, the U.S. Gülen schools receive public state and federal funds. American news organizations have done little to inform the public about the Gülen Movement, its schools, or any deeper significance or associated controversies. To date, only one news story has been produced by the mainstream press, USA To-day’s “Objectives of charter schools with Turkish connections questioned.”⁶
Broad public awareness about the Gülen charter schools has not yet occurred. One reason this national phenomenon has gone unnoticed for so long is because charter school authorization is fragmented and oversight is local and inadequate. It has taken awhile for anyone to become aware that there is a multi-district, multi-state charter school pattern in operation.
Each year that goes by, more and more U.S. tax dollars have become involved with the establishment and support of these Gülen charter schools with very little public discussion about using taxes to fund them.
Taken individually, the Gülenist schools seem quite promising and their oddities are not noticeable. However, despite the schools and school clusters claiming to have no, or minimal, affiliation with one another, they have extremely unusual similarities, which they even share with the international Gülen schools. The characteristics of these schools will include most of the following:

• Emphasis on math and science; yet little experimental science.
• High scores on standardized tests, even in cases of very challenging demographics.
• Chronic problems with special education compliance.
• High teacher turnover; teachers, administrators disappear and appear mysteriously.
• High usage of H-1B Visas to fill staffing needs.⁷
• Turkish cultural activities such as Turkish clubs, elaborately costumed student participation in regional “Turkish Olympiads” and class trips to Anatolian/Turkish festivals.
• School-sponsored trips to Turkey, usually disguised as “International” or “European” trips (scan the photo galleries on the school web sites).

Even with the large number of foreign-born Islamic teachers and administrators in the Gülen school network, why should people be concerned about these charter schools? One reason is given by Bayram Balci, a Turkish scholar with the Institut Français d’Etudes sur l’Asie Centrale in Grenoble, France. Dr. Balci states that Gülen schools have been established through-out the world to bring about a universal caliphate ruled by Islamic law.⁸ Graham Fuller, a former CIA agent and the author of several books on political Islam, says that Gülen is leading “one of the most important movements in the Muslim world today.”⁹
In a sermon that was aired on Turkish television, Gülen said:

You must move in the arteries of the system without anyone noticing your existence until you reach all the power centers…until the conditions are ripe, they [the followers] must continue like this. If they do something prematurely, the world will crush our heads, and Muslims will suffer everywhere, like in the tragedies in Algeria, like in 1982 [in] Syria…like in the yearly disasters and tragedies in Egypt. The time is not yet right. You must wait for the time when you are complete and conditions are ripe, until we can shoulder the entire world and carry it…You must wait until such time as you have gotten all the state power, until you have brought to your side all the power of the constitutional institutions in Turkey…Until that time, any step taken would be too early—like breaking an egg without waiting the full forty days for it to hatch. It would be like killing the chick inside. The work to be done is [in] con-fronting the world. Now, I have expressed my feelings and thoughts to you all—in confidence …trusting your loyalty and secrecy. I know that when you leave here—[just] as you discard your empty juice boxes, you must discard the thoughts and the feelings that I expressed here.¹⁰

Gülen does not approve of the title, “Gülen Movement.” In-stead he refers to it as a “volunteers’ (hizmet) movement.” Hizmet is one of the highest duties in Islam, implying both a religious and national service. Gülen’s community of followers is known as the cemaat. He is referred to as their hocaefendi (master lord).
Several countries have outlawed the establishment of Gülen schools, including Russia and Uzbekistan. Even the Nether-lands, a nation that embraces “pluralism” and “tolerance,” has opted to cut funding to the Gülen schools because of its aggressive promotion of Islam. One of these charter schools—Tarek ibn Zayed Academy (TiZA) in Minnesota—is so radically Islamic and subversive in nature that the Minnesota Department of Education issued two citations against it and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing it.¹¹
Equally disturbing is the encroachment of the Gülen Movement into American politics. The FGC is known to have sup-ported the election campaigns of various U.S. politicians. These same politicians also sought the blessing of the Gülen Movement by appearing at FGC events. For instance, Hillary Clinton is known to have attended FGC events in the U.S., including a September 2007 Ramadan breakfast organized by the Gülenist Turkish Cultural Center in New York City.
Dalia Mogahed is a Senior Analyst and Executive Director at the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies. She is also an advisor on Islamic Affairs to President Barack Obama and a strong supporter of the Gülen Movement. When asked about the movement’s hidden agenda, Mogahed was quoted as saying that she does not attach any importance to such allegations: “It [the Gülen Movement] has moved beyond Turkey in its very benevolent projects and it serves people from all around the world of all backgrounds, but it is still made up mostly of Turks. That is what I feel is in need of expanding,” she said.¹²
One can draw parallels between the United States and the Northern Kingdom written about in the Book of Hosea. Both had advanced technologies and unparalleled prosperity. Also, they both had evidence of moral decay: they rejected God throughout the culture. Hosea then chronicles the Northern Kingdom’s suffering from God’s judgment: he gave the Kingdom over to Assyria, a country now made up of Iraq, Syria, and parts of Iran, Egypt, and Turkey. All of these countries are now predominantly Muslim.
Is God giving the United States over to modern-day “Assyrians”? Imagine a cityscape in which the minaret, not the church steeple, dominates. Many fear that the “Ground Zero Mosque” may be the start of just such a skyline. After the morning of September 11, 2001, Americans remain perplexed about the faith of Islam. How could a religion like Islam make young men decide to fly airplanes into buildings? How could such a view of the world produce such zealots? Such world-views are complex and confusing to the Western mind. Schools such as those in the Gülen Movement promote a skewed view of the world and expose young minds to the dangers of Islam.
Americans should ask how the Gülen Movement has man-aged to establish such inroads into the American education system. It is a movement that needs to have oversight and must be made to conform to the laws of the United States, just as any other education institution that receives public funding.

* * *

Danene Vincent, Silver Medallion holder, did the original research for this article. Steve Elwart can be contacted at Steve.Elwart@studycenter.com.
Notes:

1.    http://www.edreform.com/Archive/?Annual_Survey_of_Americas_Charter_Schools_2008. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
2.    “Objectives of charter schools with Turkish ties questioned”: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-08-17-turkishfinal17_CV_N.htm.
3.    New York Times. (2008, January 8). TURKEY: Fethullah Gülen profile
4.    Fethullah Gülen’s Grand Ambition, The Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2009, http://www.meforum.org/2045/fethullah-gulens-grand-ambition#ftn51.
5.    Ibid.
6.    Greg Toppo (August 17, 2010), http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-08-17-turkishfinal17_CV_N.htm.
7.    The H-1B visa allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign work-ers in specialty occupations.
8.    Fethullah Gülen’s Missionary Schools in Central Asia and their Role in the Spreading of Turkism and Islam, Religion, State & Society, Vol. 31, No. 2, 2003, ISSN 0963-7494 print/ISSN 1465-3975 online/03/020151-27
9.    “Objectives of charter schools with Turkish ties questioned”: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-08-17-turkishfinal17_CV_N.htm.
10.    World’s “Most Dangerous Islamist” Alive, Well, and Living in Pennsyl-vania, Paul Williams, Ph.D., April 7, 2010, Family Security Matters.
11.    Ibid.
12.    Williams, Paul. “White House Muslim Advisor Supports Islamist Gülen Movement.” www.familysecuritymatters.org. Family Security Matters, 15 Jun. 2010. Web. 15 Aug. 2010.  http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.6467/pub_detail.asp
Source:  http://www.khouse.org/articles/2011/971

Harmony Science Academy-Winning over Texas politicians MONEY, MONEY, MONEY.....

More information here, as a tax payer we encourage to do your own investigation

http://turkishinvitations.weebly.com/winning-over-texas-politicians.html

Gulenist Turkey trips of Texas politicians and their staff
The Institute of Interfaith Dialog (I.I.D.), Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians (TCAE), and the Raindrop Turkish House (a.k.a. Rain Drop Foundation) are the main sponsors.  This list is just a sampling and is not comprehensive.

·         Eliott Naishtat, State Representative

·         Valinda Bolton, State Representative, June 2008 (I.I.D.)

·         Donna Howard, State Representative, June 2008 (I.I.D.)

·         Troy Fraser, State Senator, Oct 2010 (TCAE)

·         Leticia van de Putte, State Senator, Aug 2010 (Rain Drop Foundation)

·         Associate Judge Andy Hathcock  (Valinda Bolton's husband), June 2008 (I.I.D.)

·         Travis County Constable Bruce Elfant and his wife, Lisa Harris, June 2008 (I.I.D.)

·         David Wallace, former Mayor of Sugarland, Texas

·         Victoria Anne Palmer, Staff of Congressman John Carter, summer 2010  (TCAE)

·         Mark Ramon Williams, Staff of Congressman Sam Johnson, summer 2009  (I.I.D.)

·         Christopher Roper Schell, Staff of Congressman Ralph Hall, summer 2009 (I.I.D.)

·         Paul N. Balzano, Staff of Congressman Mike Conaway, summer 2009 (I.I.D.)

·         Christopher William “Chris” Alsup, Staff of Congressman John Carter, summer 2009 (I.I.D.)

·         Scott C. Graves, Staff of Congressman Mike Conaway, summer 2009 (I.I.D.)

·         Lindsey Ray, Staff of Congressman Sam Johnson, summer 2009 (I.I.D.)

·         Ryan D. Stalnaker, Staff of Congressman John Carter, summer 2009 (I.I.D.)

·         Will Wynn, Mayor of Austin, August 2006 (I.I.D.)

Gulenist events involving Texas politicians
In Today’s Zaman, Sep 30, 2010, Saim Orhan, who is affiliated with Samanyolu, a major Gulenist media outlet in Turkey, wrote about his trip to Austin:  “Our first stop was the Texas State Capitol, where we dropped in to meet some state representatives. We spoke with state representatives Donna Howard and Eliott Naishtat, both of whom knew a little about Turkey. Howard told us she had a chance to learn about the teachings of Fethullah Gulen, while Naishtat shared stories of his tour through Anatolia on a visit to Turkey and how impressed he was by both the land and the people.  //  Naishtat recalled his memorable trip through Turkey organized by the Raindrop Foundation and the Institute of Interfaith Dialogue. State representatives from Oklahoma were also in the party with them.” 
________
From the website of the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians: “Turkish Delegation meets with Texas state officials.”  In attendance were:

·         State Comptroller Susan Combs

·         Commissioner of Education Robert Scott

·         Austin Mayor Lee Leffinwell

·         Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson

________
Congressman Louie Gohmert attended the Grand Opening Gala of the Turkic American Alliance (formerly ATAF), Washington DC, May 12, 2010, celebrating the inauguration of an umbrella organization with 180 member organizations, all linked to Fethullah Gulen.
________
US Congressman Honorable Louie Gohmert attended a lunch at the Raindrop Turkish House, Houston, Feb 28, 2008 organized by Raindrop Turkish House, The Institute of Interfaith Dialog (IID), The Institute of International Commerce and Partnership (IICP), Texas Gulf Institute (TGI), all Gulenist organizations.
________ 
Attending the 5th Annual Friendship and Dialogue Dinner of the El Paso chapter of the Institute of Interfaith Dialog (IID) Nov 27, 2010:

·         El Paso Mayor John Cook

·         El Paso Senator Eliot Shapleigh  ("received Institute of Interfaith Dialog Community Service award after serving 14 years in Texas State Senate")

·         Senator-Elect Jose Rodriguez

·         El Paso County Judge-Elect Veronica Escobar

·         Texas State Representatives Chente Quintanilla and Marisa Marquez

·         El Paso City Representatives

·         County Commissioners

·         Dictrict Judges

·         (The Institute of Interfaith Dialog  website says that "many other valuable guests participated the dinner."  The use of the word "valuable" in this statement is quite revealing.)

________
Attending the Institute of Interfaith Dialog's 8th Dallas Annual Friendship and Dialog Dinner, November 29, 2010:

·         Dr. John Harper, Mayor of City of Rowlett

·         Dwaine Caraway, Mayor Pro Tem at City of Dallas

The above list is only a sampling.

Return on investment
Below are just two examples of the return on investment that Gulenists have received from Texas politicians:
State resolution 85 commending Fethullah Gulen
On January 25, 2011, the Texas Senate passed SR 85, a resolution "commending Fethullah Gulen for his contributions to the promotion of global peace."  While most Texans pay scant attention to such ceremonial gestures and would probably prefer that their elected representatives attend to more substantive matters, this resolution was treated as major news by all Gulenist media outlets.  For example, Today's Zaman ran a story on it.

The authors of the resolution, according to this Texas State Senate webpage, were Eddie Lucio Jr, Troy Fraser, Joan Huffman, Jane Nelson and Leticia van de Putte.  Notice how at least two of these individuals had been on a Gulenist Turkey trip (see above).
Houston Proclamation declaring "Gulen Institute - Dialog of Civilizations Day"
From the website of the Azerbaijanian American Cultural Alliance (a Gulenist organization), referring to a Jan 2010 event called "Dialog of Civilizations Platform":

"The honorary guest of the program was Congressman Al Green. He stated the Gulen Movement is a peace movement and the aid campaign of the Raindrop Turkish House for the Haiti Earthquake was something to be applauded.

"Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and newly-elected Houston Mayor Annise Parker also sent messages to the Platform to show their support. Annise Parker issued a proclamation in which she declared 22-23 January as the 'Gulen Institute – Dialog of Civilizations Day'. "

Do your own investigating
Campaign finance reports for Texas state office candidates can be searched at the Texas Ethics Commission website.  Turkey trips are declared on these reports.  Federal campaign contributions can be easily searched, both by donor and candidate name, at the Newsmeat website.   Congressional Turkey trips can be searched at the Legistorm website.   The websites of Gulenist organizations such as the Raindrop Turkish House, Institute of Interfaith Dialog, Turquoise Council, and Gulen Institute show many short articles on events that Texas politicians have participated in. 

Harmony Science Academy featured at Turkish Olympiad in Texas thank you posted by Gulen Movement

This video of the Harmony Science Academy was posted by the Gulen Movment
It was filmed by Gulen's ERBU TV.  Enjoy American kids singing and dancing in
Turkish

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..."

Harmony Science Academy, A Global Turkish Islam and schools by Kurdish Aspect

Is a Turkish Astronaut in the future for 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 pudding 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 InterfaithDialogue, 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.

Harmony Science Academy - MORE fake advertisement "100% graduation rate"

The schools say they have a 100 percent graduation rate.”

Harmony Science Academy, Houston: The class of 2008 started out in 9th grade with 47 students. In 10th grade it was 44, 11th grade 35, and by the 2007-2008 school year the class was down to 31 twelfth-grade students. Many education researchers would argue that this implies a graduation rate of 31/47 = 66%. In fact, some would say that an additional correction should be made for the fact that the total enrollment in the high school increased from 129 to 151; making such a correction would give an even lower graduation rate.
This is not an isolated example:
Harmony Science Academy Houston – class of 2009. Started with 47 9th graders in 2005-6, ended with 37 12th graders in 2008-9 (79% graduation rate).
Harmony Science Academy Austin – class of 2009. Started with 24 9th graders in 2005-6, ended with 13 12th graders in 2008-2009 (54% graduation rate).
Harmony Science Academy Dallas – class of 2009. Started with 44 9th graders in 2005-6, ended with 14 12th graders in 2008-2009 (32% graduation rate).
(All enrollment numbers came from the National Center for Education Statistics.)
Clearly these schools have a large amount of attrition.

. Why didn’t more of those ninth graders stay in the schools through 12th grade? Where did they end up – as dropouts or in another school? The claim is that the schools’ goal was to get all the 9th graders into college; a necessary step towards that goal would be getting them through 12th grade.
We would also have appreciated an independent confirmation of the claims regarding the waiting lists. The schools have a powerful incentive to inflate these lists, and there is no outside agency checking on them

Harmony Science Academy- Mentioned in USA Today Article, "Turkish Ties to Charter Schools questioned"

Gulen not in his Imam prayer robes, remains in seclusion

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.

 Unlike PBS and other publications, the USA Today doesn't accept $Money to write a "Fluff" piece on the Gulen Charter Schools.