Fethullah Gulen Forum

Taken from Dr. Kurt.

 

Dr. Koc's recent book about Fethullah Gulen has opened my eyes about Dr. Dogan Koc. While doing some research about Dr. Koc's other possible articles, I came up with "Fethullah Gulen Forum", a website where you can find a number of articles about the Gulen Movement, including the ones from Dr. Koc. Here is what the website tells about itself:

The New York Times Celebrates the Anniversary of Fethullah Gulen News

Stephanie Saul of The New York Times has recently celebrated the first anniversary of her report about Fethullah Gulen, the so-called Gulen Movement (or Hizmet Movement) and so-called Gulen inspired or connected charter schools. In the blink of an eye, we have seen a lot of negative publication about Fethullah Gulen and some charter schools popped up. There was a long period of silence (like three weeks) and media guys pulled out their guns one by one as if they had some tacit consent among each other. Or maybe somebody has just pulled the trigger or pushed the button to defame Fethullah Gulen. 

MerryLynn Gerstenschlager of TEF Provides Inaccurate Information

From Gulen and Charter Schools

A friend of mine told me about the Texas House Public Education Committee convened on February 17th. When asked what it was all about, he said "Just watch. Laughing guaranteed!"

Gulen Charter Schools: More from Islamophobia Report

Center for American Progress summarizes how ultra-nationalists are organized and funded. This draws a clear picture of actions of bloggers who attack so-called Gulen charter schools. A few years ago, the concept of Gulen Charter Schools was virtually unknown, but today, when you say Gulen Charter Schools, you could remember the fraudulent attackers of those schools.

Islamophobia Network Targets Top Performing American Schools

"Michael Shank is talking about the latest Islamophobia attacks on Turkish people. The schools Turks work for are called Gulen Charter Schools, a term that has no equivalent in education. People who created the concept of Gulen Charter Schools do not care about this equivalency issue. All they look for is extra money that would come from Islamophobia network.

Donna Garner Pants on Fire

In her rare appearances in the media, Donna Garner is touted as pants-on-fire type of personality. This is one example I found on PolitiFact website. 

Gulen Charter School Facts: Oda TV of Turkey is Behind Anti-Charter Groups in US

On September 9, a high court in Istanbul, Turkey, has accepted an indictment of 14 suspects, including some journalists who are accused of being members of Ergenekon, a clandestine criminal network accused of plotting to overthrow the government.

Cheating Allegations on a Teacher and Gulen Charter Schools

A teacher has been accused of TAKS cheating. HISD Superintendent Terry Grier recommended to let her go, but the result of the board meeting was different. Trustees voted 3-3 after closed-door discussions last week about the teacher, Erica Carmouche, who has denied wrongdoing. The tie vote — possible because three trustees were absent — means Carmouche keeps her job.

Anyway, I really wonder when people accused Harmony Science Academy, KIPP and YES Prep Schools of cheating, they tend to forget one thing: cheating is a malpractice that will somehow be heard by everyone sooner or later. Some charter school opponents accuse Harmony Schools of cheating (let alone labeling them as Gulen Charter Schools) and blindly assert that the whole campus went to the "cheating spree"! That is ridiculous. How in the world people expect us to believe such a lie? People are already standing tall against those accusers with their same old labels of Gulen charter schools.

One more thing: Carmouche has worked for the Houston Independent School District since 2000, all at Lockhart. She worked last year as a reading coach, and her salary was $51,241. She received a performance bonus of $1,450 based on TAKS scores at her school in 2010. Bonuses for this year have not been distributed yet. Those at "so-called" Gulen charter schools and other charter schools do not receive TAKS bonuses.

Maybe this will tell you something.

Donna Garner: A True Sciolist - 4

This will be the last article (for now) on Donna Garner. I have been getting nice feedback on previous articles and I am glad that a number of websites quote from my article.

I designed these articles in Claim&Answer format so that I could reveal Garner's wrong points and fallacies easily. Honestly, I found a number of points that prove why Garner is wrong, but I did not want to deal with each and every fallacious argument, because there were so many!

I will continue to write on these people like Donna Garner, since there are plenty of them who unscrupulously attack on some charter schools and putting them foolish labels such as "Gulen Charter Schools". Most of those attackers are not aware of the fact that the claims and allegations they made are entirely "null and void". Talking to the parents and students, I gathered invaluable data on these so-called Gulen Charter Schools and parents aptly state that there is no religious agenda at those schools. This issue deserves another article; therefore, I leave the floor open for subsequent articles.

I will answer two more claims:

Claim: Waco Harmony Science Academy students, in a celebration in Indian Springs Park, trampled the United States flag (taken from Garner's talk on City on a Hill radio show, dated April 27, 2011).

Answer: When I first heard this claim, I was really surprised, because it was a serious claim that should be taken in due care. Since Garner resides in Waco, she makes the story more convincing. But the "truth has a bad habit of revealing itself one day."

Donna Garner had a couple of mistakes here: first of all, instead of putting such a bold claim and puzzling everyone in the radio show, she should have asked Waco Harmony Science Academy administrators/students/parents if such an incident took place.

I did what Donna Garner forgot to do. I found Waco school's phone number and asked Mr. Kose (Principal) if there was such a thing. He told me that that festival or celebration took place last year, yet Garner presented the incident as if it happened yesterday. On the other hand, there was no such an incident as Garner alleged. Rather, the students carried American flag on their head let alone trampling it.

Principal's explanation seemed logical to me, because if such a vehement event had occured, the public would have heard about it after several angry parents or any other spectators had reported this incident finally hitting the local papers' headlines. Since we heard nothing about it, then we conceive that Garner is doing nothing but manipulation and distortion of events.

Claim: "Gulen Charter Schools" are trying to bring sharia laws to the United States (taken from Garner's same talk on City on a Hill radio show, dated April 27, 2011)..

Answer: Actually, this claim is the reason why some people never take Donna Garner and similar people seriously, because they do not present any solid claim that could make us say "A-ha". On hearing such an allegation, one would only laugh at that and appreciate the sense of humor those people possess.

In the same vein, Peggy Littleton said something similar in nature a few months ago: "I believe — and this is just my own personal opinion, without any factual data to back it up — one of the only reasons the Obama administration is willing to stand in the face of teachers' unions ... by making states adopt charter school rules ... I think that he's doing that because of these Gulen schools. The Gulen schools are the Muslim schools in our country ... telling the kids of the United States of America, 'Hate Americans' and the whole rest..."

There are so many fallacious presuppositions that one really wonders if it is really possible to give a proper answer to that. It is like trying to operate on someone who has had a tragic accident. We are not sure if we can save the patient after all.

As for Garner, she is just whistling in the dark, having no idea of what she is really talking about. Such a claim deserves a sarcastic tone such as "Oh, really? The I must tell the White House, the Army and all other government entities that America is facing the danger of adopting sharia law (!) Oh, wait a minute, this would be useless, since our President is already Muslim!"


Is this what you want Ms. Garner? As a scholar, I do not think that sarcasm would do good to you, but in the face of such ridiculous allegations, one cannot help but produce sarcasm. 


Enough said. I guess the best way is to direct our attention to parents and students who are essential part of those schools and at the end of the day what matters will be what those people say and think rather than the baseless allegations of unscrupulous attackers like Donna Garner or Peggy Littleton.


Of course without the absurd label of Gulen Charter Schools...

Donna Garner: A True Sciolist - 3

I continue with the third part of Donna Garner's funny accusations and stories.

Claim: The Gulenists had already taken over the Turkish National Police by giving applicants the answers to the exams. If this is standard protocol in Turkey by the Gulenists, I have to ask whether there is any outside monitoring of test security when the Gulen Charter Schools in the United States administer the state-mandated tests (TAKS in Texas) and the SAT/ACT.  If not, can we trust the Gulen Charter Schools’ (a.k.a., Harmony Schools in Texas) test results to be credible?

Answer: Since Garner's presupposition is based on a false acceptance, the rest of the questions automatically qualifies for nothing but absurdity. First of all, the first claim is just fabrication with no official court decision or something similar. It is just an absurd claim asserted by the very same underground paramilitary organization (which is called Ergenekon in Turkey) who does any sort of dirty job including taking country's prime minister to the scaffold and dropping bombs in order to create chaos in the country. Ergenekon is a large topic and there are even scholarly articles about it, but as a first step you can start reading from a semi-scholarly article .n Wikipedia. Maybe I can provide more articles in the future about this terrorist organization.

Today I saw a joke on the web about Gulenists with a sarcastic tone. This joke actually summarizes the mindset of those who create havoc in Turkey.

"Reliable sources tell MNN that Gulenists are behind the arrest of Rebekah Brooks, a very prominent British investigative journalist, in a bid to silence the last remaining pockets of opposition both to the governing party and to the movement that now dominates the military, the police, the judiciary, the ministry of interior, the ministry of foreign affairs, the ministry of forestry, the ministry of feeding cattles etc. The arrest implies that the threat is now on our shores. 

Sources tell MNN, Brooks was preparing a book on the sinister activities of Gulenists within the British state structures who have relentlessly tried to infiltrate every and each state agency. The police who carried the investigation, the prosecutor who ordered the arrest and the judge who decided for her detention are all believed to be from the movement. It is strongly believed that Gulenist policemen within Scotland Yard have fabricated evidence to get Brooks, a very brave and prominent investigative journalist, arrested. The arrest comes after the detention of two very prominent Turkish reporters in Turkey, where the movement has her power house, back in March. The arrest of Brooks vindicates the concerns that Gulenists are now not only a threat for Turkey but for the globe and even for mankind."

The same vein of the same mentality extends to the United States in order to deceive naive people like Donna Garner and some others so that they could invent new concepts such as Gulen Charter Schools.

As for the alleged cheating in TAKS, this is another vehement claim that puts a number of people and organizations into its target ranging from TEA (Texas Education Agency) and Harmony Schools to countless students, teachers and administrators. Harmony Schools officials say that during the TAKS Tests their schools are strictly supervised and observed by TEA officials. There is no single incident of cheating at Harmony Schools. Ms. Garner establishes imaginary relationships among irrelevant people and organizations. Even if the first claim were to be true, this again would prove nothing about Harmony Schools. 

My answer shows that Ms. Garner invents something out of the blue and sensible people (like me) try to correct her inventions (!)

Donna Garner: A True Sciolist - 2

I will continue to give answers to Donna Garner’s groundless claims. In my last article, I briefly mentioned the superficial and wrong perceptions and knowledge from Donna Garner, who even lacks the basic information despite continuously labeling some charter schools as “Gulen Charter Schools”. Let's continue to answer Garner's weird claims.

Claim: “I received this note from a local pastor:

Hi Donna,

The local Harmony Science Academy is obviously one of these schools.  One of our church families had a daughter there, but the Muslim influence and foundation of beliefs and practices led them to remove her.

Thanks for bringing attention to this.

R.” (Taken from her article on ISD Initiative website dated February 10, 2011)

Answer: A dubious and obscure claim! First of all, there is no name mentioned here. No name of the pastor or Harmony School, having 33 campuses in Texas, is given. Why are you scared Ms. Garner? Do you think people will bug the pastor? Or are you just making up stories?

Looks like she is just making up brand-new stories. Besides, I can also write similar things about any school or any other organization. For example, something like this: “Hi Donna… The local elementary school here is one of these schools where you find child abuse. One of our church families had a son there, but the abusive manners of the teachers led me to remove my son.” Looks familiar right? Here I could have put the name of a famous elementary school and defamed their name.

Also, if there were to be such influence, brainwashing or similar practices, some other parents would definitely pull out their kids and that would hit the local and national headlines as well. Since it is illegal to teach religion in public schools, any contrary practice will put that school into trouble.

Before making an ambiguous claim, people should think twice, because these kinds of claims, without any backing factual data, could leave a permanent negative spot on the mentioned organizations.

Claim: Students in the Gulen (charter) schools celebrate various Turkish Muslim holidays (taken from her Education News article dated March 24, 2011).

Answer: Superficial claims are abound. This was another one I came up while reading Donna Garner’s stories. 

 

Read more

Cain and Socrates on so called Gulen Charter Schools

Goose media, lead by famous ancient journalist Cain reported the following common characteristics of-so called- Gulen charter schools. Socrates joins him to help enlighten their minds, and hearts to help alleviate the Fethullah Gulen phobia that seized them terribly. Goose network, after having indulged so much with Fethullah Gulen, started seeing hallucination, and wherever they look, they end up seeing the same bugaboo as a nightmare; Gulen media, Gulen school, Gulen charter school, Gulen UFO, GulenX, and the bugaboo comes with complimentary unsweetened Gulen chewing gum. Because it has been constantly nurtured by their sponsors and ducks, GulenX now turned out to a giant monster in their minds  chasing them day and night to swallow them virtually. They desperately need a help to wake up from this dreadful nightmare. Let’s see if Socrates can help a little bit.








Cain: Hey Master!.Did you know that one of the very first common thing among Gulen charter schools is their “focus on-what they call-Math?”

Socrates: Hey Cain! I am sorry that you lived in ancient time, and obviously don’t know much about progresses that mankind made after you. Please understand that this is the 21st century, and math with its practical applications is in every part of human life. In this century it is critical that students get exposed to math at school levels. Strong math skills are not only needed for personal life but also more importantly for the professional life. Therefore,  it is all normal to put math in the center of their curriculum. In fact one of the two famous test that each student must take in grades 3, 5 and 8 under “No Human Left Behind Act” in modern schools is Math.  I hope you got it!

Cain: Hmm,  not really, but let me pretend so.. I also heard that “Gulenist teacher provide free after-school tutoring.” I cannot understand why and how they can teach for free?

Read the rest of the conversation

A Rosetta Stone for the so called Gulen Charter Schools

May be they will get it if it is said in Latin: Illic Est Haud Talis Res Ut Gulen Pactum Schola! There is no such thing as a Gulen Charter School! Fethullah Gulen said it himself in several settings¹. The so called Gulen Charter School administrators explained it many times. But they still don’t get it, and probably won’t get it no matter how many different languages it is translated into or how many different contexts it is articulated in. But let’s give it another shot.

Quid est Carta Schola? What’s a charter school anyway?

US Department of Education defines a charter school as “a publicly funded school that is typically governed by a group or organization under a legislative contract or charter with the state; the charter exempts the school from selected state or local rules and regulations. In return for funding and autonomy, the charter school must meet the accountability standards articulated in its charter.”²

Reiterating the definition, a charter school is a public school run by an independent entity. In order to run a charter, one needs to draft and sign a contract with the state or district board of education.  In the contract, the authorizer could grant some level of autonomy and freedom from several rules and regulations. Per the agreement, a charter school may develop its own curriculum, or set its own educational program, or hire its own staff, of course all under the oversight of the authorizing agent. Another aspect of charter schools is that they are schools of choice. The voluntary enrollment makes a charter school more accountable before the board of education, and more importantly before the parents and students.

US Charter Schools, a site supported by US Department of Education and National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, add the following to the definition “The charter establishing each such school is a performance contract detailing the school's mission, program, goals, students served, methods of assessment, and ways to measure success.”³ So unlike traditional public schools, charter schools cannot stay open unless they deliver high quality education.

EdReform has a short list of frequently asked questions⁴, clarifying several other aspects of charters schools. The following fast facts that can be derived from similar FAQ sites.

• Charter schools are public schools that operate under the federal and state laws. There are very specific education articles that each and every charter school has to comply with.

• Charter schools are mostly founded by non-profit organizations which are required to report not only their financials but also their operations to keep their non-profit status.

• Charter school authorizers monitor and oversee the charter schools in their district. They audit charter school financials, operations and academic performance at least annually with a very fine-toothed comb. Depending on the severity of findings, schools are required to fix those issues within a cure period, and if due diligence is not followed, their charter can be revoked.

Qui est Gulen? And what’s Gulen got to do with charter schools?

How about the other part of the clause? Who is Fethullah Gulen and how is related to charter schools? A little research shows that Fethullah Gulen is a Turkish preacher, educator, author and a Muslim scholar currently living in the US.

Gulen Institute, a Houston based non-profit organization, introduce Fethullah Gulen as “the initiator and inspirer of the worldwide social movement of human values known as the Hizmet (Service) Movement or Gulen Movement. Focused on education where secular curricula are taught by teachers who aspire to represent high values of humanity, this social phenomenon defeats easy categorization.”⁵

It is not only the sociologists that have difficulty in categorizing Gulen Movement, but also the educators in analyzing the movement’s contribution to education. Dr. Muhammed Cetin, the author of “Gulen Movement: Civic Service without Borders”⁶, the most extensive study so far on the movement, explains the misunderstanding as follows: “The use of terms like ‘Gulen schools’ can arise from ignorance or disinformation. If the term ‘Gulen schools’ is equated with, for example, Montessori schools (where a particular training and qualifications are required for personnel and a specific methodology is used), it leads to misunderstanding.”

Dr. Cetin suggests Gulen-Inspired Schools as the correct term, “Because of its brevity, outsiders tend to use ‘Gulen schools’ rather than ‘Gulen-inspired schools’, but the shorter term seems to imply some sort of central control of activities and even an ideology, while the second makes it clearer that there is no centralization in the movement. Gulen movement participants tend to use the Turkish term hizmet (volunteer services) for the projects and services they provide. This is a solution for the inconsistency in naming the Gulen movement and the institutions it inspires and in clarifying their identity for outside observers.”

The Non Sequitur of the so called Gulen Charter Schools

EdReform reports that there are more than 5,000 charter schools serving more than 1.5 million schools in 40 states.⁷ So how many of these five thousand schools are Gulen Charter Schools? Nemo prorsus! Not one at all! Because there is no school in the United States named as ‘Gulen Charter School’. You could say, that’s a no brainer, but how about the rumors on the Web?

Well according to some internet spies within the blog circles there are more than a hundred. There are even a few charter school networks that had been named as Gulen Charter Schools. So far the winners are: Concept schools, Harmony Schools, Magnolia Schools, etc.

So how do these bloggers categorize these schools? What do they consider to decide whether a school is Gulen Charter School or not? Let’s look at the components of a charter school, see which one could be the common factor.  If we look at the listed charter schools and where they operate, we see they are all chartered under different states: some are in Ohio, some other in Texas, some else are in California. If we look at the specific locations, some reside in suburbia whereas others are located in the urban districts.  If we look at the student demographics, they vary a lot again. Some have African-Americans and some others have Latino-Americans as the majority of the population whereas some have very diverse demographics including various percentages of whites, blacks, and Hispanics.  

Is it the curriculum or educational program then? Gulen is an Islamic scholar, so these schools might be using an Islamic curriculum? That cannot be the case, as all charter schools are public schools, and the education is and has to be secular in all. Even the Catholic private schools converting to charter schools have to revise their curriculum to comply with that. In some states, charter schools don’t get any public funding for facilities, and if they need to lease space in a church, then they have to clean up or cover all religious signs in the school facilities too.

Some bloggers mention that the so called Gulen Charter Schools emphasize mathematics or science or technology as their focus of educational program. But so does several other hundred or thousand. Does that make Kennesaw Charter in Cobb County, or Washington Math Science Technology Charter School in DC, or Harbor Science and Arts Charter School in New York, Gulen Charter Schools as well? If not, esse quam videri!

For some it is inevitable to be labeled as a Gulen Charter School even if the school theme is different. One blogger notes that the Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania charter school appears (?) to emphasize languages instead of the usual math and science emphasis. This specific blogger (on weebly) also lists several characteristics of Gulen Charter Schools as free after school tutoring, robotics clubs, online student information systems for assignments and grades, character education, high scores on standardized tests even with very challenging student demographics.  High achievements not only in state tests but national science fairs and international competitions as well. Well I don’t care what the school theme is then; just sign me up. I am serious. If you could locate such a school in my neighborhood let me know.

The question in hand was, why and how were these charter schools connected to Gulen? The blogger on Weebly lists several quotes from academia loosely referring to charter or Gulen schools which actually proves the misunderstanding on how these schools are related to Gulen. In other entries in the same blog, a bunch of names that seem to be cherry picked from staff of the so called Gulen Charter Schools are listed. Some of these staff happen to be previously employed by a Gulen affiliated institution, whereas some other published a note in an affiliated magazine, and some other participated in an interfaith event. So if you happen to pass by any of these and then contribute to public education as a teacher or an activist or even as a parent or student in one of the listed schools, and that school is somehow, and God knows how, remotely related to Gulen, then you are probably marked too. What is this if not McCarthyism?

The cavil about foreign employees of these charter schools is also significant. Harmony Schools is reported to hiring 15% of their teaching staff of 1,200 from other countries⁸. For Concept schools that figure is close to 25%⁹. Those numbers may seem high, but large public school districts are doing that as well. In 2008, Baltimore City schools had 593 foreign teachers out of 7000 and Prince George’s County had 556 out of 10,000¹⁰. This has not only taken place in Maryland; Los Angeles Unified District imported around 300 Filipino teachers since 2007¹¹. It is a common practice that school districts in need hire teachers from overseas.  A recent article concludes that we have to do that more as “They can help solve the teacher shortage while exposing our kids to new ways of looking at the world, says Professor Jonathan Zimmerman”.¹² Unless you are xenophobe, why would you object to that?

The irony is that the foreign teachers in the so called Gulen Schools are accused of being the CIA-front in other parts of the world, and at the same time trying to infiltrate here in the United States. Jeff Stein of Washington Post¹³ quotes Graham Fuller, former CIA station chief in Kabul and author of ‘The Future of Political Islam’, responding “I think the story of 130 CIA agents in Gulen Schools in Central Asia is pretty wild”.  Fuller adds “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.” Mustafa Akyol, deputy editor of Turkish Daily News indentifies the conspiracy theories around Gulen a bit like The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, the notorious anti-Semitic forgery.¹⁴

See where you will end up with if you follow the same defective logic on other charter schools. KIPP, the Knowledge Is Power Program, is a nationwide network of charter schools, running 99 schools in twenty states serving more than 27,000 students.¹⁵ KIPP has recently opened a branch in Israel.¹⁶ Before that the highest contributor of KIPP was Don and Doris Fisher who have Jewish heritage. Moreover, Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin, the cofounders of KIPP schools, both Jewish as well, respond to the question “How have your Jewish values informed your work?” by telling that “We were taught that, "The world itself rests upon the breath of the children in our schools" (Mishna Sanhedrin 4:5). For us, this is summed up in our philosophy that to be successful children need to "word hard and be nice."” ¹⁷ So are they cultivating the Hebrew tradition in KIPP schools? Is KIPP is a Judaic charter school network then? They may even be a Zionist network? I am sure you are laughing out loud to these paranoid conspiracies, but then how is that any different than labeling Concept Schools as Gulen Charter Schools?

If you have the same tunnel vision syndrome, you can repeat the same drill with Imagine Schools,¹⁸ largest commercial manager of charter schools in the US operating 73 schools serving more than 40,000 students, or with National Heritage Academies, another for-profit charter school management group running 67 schools in eight states. I am sure you could come up with enough material to fill up several blogs of rants and raves.

Who is playing this name and blame game?

A group of anonymous bloggers are playing around the so called Gulen Charter Schools with such endless rants and raves. All referring to each other in order to create a circle of Big Lie¹⁹: If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.
The rules of the game are really easy: Find a charter school with a theme focusing on science or math. Check out their staff and founders, and if you come up with an oriental name anywhere label the school as a Gulen Charter School. Circulate it within a ring of bloggers. Next step is to find out news about sponsors and supporters of the school. If you can’t locate any wrongdoing or anything illegitimate then make it up. For sure they will get some sort of grants and public funding. In case the auditors don’t report any findings, do a little photoshopping in order to manipulate the news: Buy the sponsor a kefiyyeh and make Bill Gates look like Bin Laden²⁰. If that is too complicated for you, then copy a piece from these hate blogs, and submit comments to any articles that mentions a bit about education. The article does not need to be related to charter schools. Who cares about schools and education anyway? Just cast some aspersions.

Who are the players in this Big Lie name and blame game? You name it: ultra-right extremists, supremacists, xenophobes, grudged employees, disgruntled parents, and charter opponents. Among these ghost-fighters, a few are worth to mention to show the gravity of the situation:

Dr. Williams, who needs an immediate appointment with Dr. Phil, is running a hate website ranting on anything Islamic. It looks like the Don Quixote is running the last crusade against education jihad in his hallucinations. With every flow of rumors on the so called Gulen Charter Schools, Sir Odium Generis Islami dons his armors and sets out on his trusty steed tilting at windmills again. His orders to squiring Sanchos: Don’t let the bastards grind you down. One of his Sanchos should probably order their lionhearted knight couple of boxes of antipsychotics.

On another stage, the greatest actress of freedom is acting for America. Rising in defense of our liberty Brigitte Gabriel is calling all conscious patriots for action: They must be stopped! “They” obviously refer to Muslims. Casus belli! Are “they” extremists or fundamentalists? Who cares? Gulen appears to be innocuous, but he is a Muslim too, let’s throw mud at him, maybe this time it will stick. Gabriel is also founder of the American Congress for Truth, but which truth? In her paranoid schizophrenia there is no truth other than what she hallucinates.

In the world of such xenophobia and paranoia, you cannot possibly be a good citizen if you come from a different walk of life. Therefore you should not dare to contribute to community at all. How could you possibly help in education without a sinister intension or hidden agenda? If you were a Latino-American, African-American, or perish the thought a Muslim-American, then your existence is the very problem. Could there be any good in such an alien? No way! But one should ask then, where does Brigitte Gabriel come from? And don’t get your hopes high for Paul Williams either; unless his grandparents were one of the last Mohicans, he is an immigrant too. After all that might be the very reason for their hatred, as one cannot hate others so much without hating oneself. Odio ergo sum! As Descartes puts it, “It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get.”

What can be done to correct the misconceptions?

Should Gulen post ads in the daily papers telling that he has nothing to do with charter schools, or a infiltration, if any, or stealth jihad or whatever dark scenarios or conspiracies that loons are hallucinating that day? Should he report to these watch sites every day pledging his allegiance? As a matter of fact, Gulen has been preaching peace, tolerance, and mutual respect, interfaith and intercultural dialog every day of his life since he has known himself. His teachings have been recorded and transcribed for decades. He has got no fights with anything but ignorance. He has been acquitted of all allegations in many courts.  In what jurisdiction does promoting love and tolerance, peace and harmony, education and dialog constitutes a crime anyway?
In a recent conversation, Gulen asks "Why don't they believe? Why do they, inside and outside, enter a process that can only be explained with reference to the psychological disease called paranoia? Why can't they get rid of their doubts and qualms? What has been said and done is evident, and despite there being nothing adding substance to their suspicions, why do they still look suspiciously at us?"
Answering, he says: "They do not look at the world from the same window as we do. They don't believe in the hereafter as we do. The values that are dear to us mean nothing to them. We seek the hereafter, paradise, the divine beauty, and we say, 'We do it to please God without any other motive,' but they focus on this world, seeing everything other than that. We say we are not motivated by fame, glory, position or money, while they put them at the center of their lives. While we say, 'One should not be deceived by this transient world, and we should do whatever we do in this ephemeral world with the hereafter in mind and to please God,' they think and believe exactly the opposite. Knowing that 'the tastes of this world are like a poisonous honey and pleasures are always accompanied by woes,' we believe that all pleasures, legitimate or illegitimate, are means for being tested in this world, but they do not have such criteria in their hands."
He then comes back to the beginning: "Even if they do not believe, and continue to be suspicious, you will not change your way. You will go on with your plans and projects for revival and the strengthening of universal values. Your attitude and behavior will continue to show that you are unfazed by worldly wants or goals. Without giving rise to paranoia, and by using various means, you will say strongly that you do not have motives other than achieving peace and the salvation of humanity. You will use everything from painting to music, from novels to poetry, from cinema to sports as a means. Some may raise objections. So be it. Some may have doubts if this is the right thing today. Let them. Why should we not use these means for revival and repair when they have been used for destruction up until now? I am a child of my time. I don't think anyone who is sane and who can make sense of the world properly will object to them. Even if they do, it means nothing. And you will be patient. You cannot treat chronic and gangrenous wounds all at once and magically."²¹

Wait till a blogger gets that!
Article from getthefact.com

1. http://www.fethullahgulen.org/press-room/rev1iew/1054-gulen-as-educator-and-religious-teacher.html
2. http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=30
3. http://www.uscharterschools.org/pub/uscs_docs/o/index.htm
4. http://www.edreform.com/Fast_Facts/Ed_Reform_FAQs/?Just_the_FAQs_Charter_Schools
5. http://www.guleninstitute.org/index.php/Biography.html
6. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/193529508X/
7. http://www.edreform.com/Fast_Facts/Ed_Reform_FAQs/?Just_the_FAQs_Charter_Schools
8. http://www.oaoa.com/articles/harmony-48165-group-lot.html
9. http://www.conceptschools.org/?page_id=618
10. http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-10-22-foreign-teachers_N.htm
11. http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/18/local/me-filipino18
12. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09291/1006118-109.stm
13. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2011/01/islamic_group_is_cia_front_ex-.html
14. http://www.fethullah-gulen.org/op-ed/protocol-learned-elders.html
15. http://www.kipp.org/about-kipp
16. http://www.thejewishweek.com/special_sections/education_careers/kipp_ing_point
17. http://www.kipp.org/index.cfm?objectid=E212DF50-861F-11DF-98C1005056883C4D&print=1
18. http://www.imagineschools.com/
19. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Lie
20. http://www.harmonyparent.com/charterschools/tag/bill-gates/
21. http://www.fethullahgulen.org/press-room/columns/3609-they-wont-believe.html

Gulen Charter Schools Attackers Linked to Ergenekon

This is very interesting that attackers of Gulen Charter Schools proudly admit their membership with clandestine Ergenekon organization in Turkey.

In a lot of comments including the ones in Texas Tribune and other ones, I found out that those attackers of so-called Gulen charter schools never deny their relationship with Ergenekon. Some of them are working very hard to stop Fethullah Gulen that they somehow belong to someone's payrol.

When you live in Arizona and when your house has been foreclosured and when you are the ex-parent of a charter school, you will gladly accept any kind of "quasi-violuntary" job to wage war against Gulen charter schools.

One of the members of Ergenekon admitted that they tried so hard to make officials reject the application of a charter school on grounds that it is a Gulen charter school.

You probably wondered what this Ergenekon thing is about. There are some articles about it.

Answers to Concerned Parents on so-called "Gulen Charter Schools"

In some websites, a person named Fethullah Gulen is accused of infiltrating the United States through charter schools along which a list is given. I have a son who goes to one of the charter schools in the list. Though, I am very happy with the school and have not heard anything about Fethullah Gulen, I am confused by this information. I would appreciate if you commented on this matter.

It is quite interesting that defamation of Turkish scholar Fethullah Gulen appears to have started recently, after political developments in Turkey and the number of such accusations increases every day. There are several points you need to know in order to contextually understand this issue:

About Fethullah Gulen

Fethullah Gulen is a Turkish scholar, thinker, social entrepreneur and opinion leader known for his stances for democracy, interfaith dialogue, peaceful coexistence, and secular education where universal values are embodied by altruistic teachers. Numerous non-governmental organizations have been established by citizens inspired by his life and works in the areas of education, interfaith dialogue, health-care, disaster relief and economic assistance.
In order to promote interfaith dialogue in his home country he has met with the leaders of various religious minorities including the Greek Patriarch, Armenian Patriarch, Chief Rabbi of Turkey, and others. In recognition of his contributions to interfaith understanding, he was given personal audience by the late Pope John Paul II.

Former U.S. President Clinton commented in an address to an audience at New York Turkish American Cultural Center that Turkish-Americans “are contributing to the promotion of the ideas of tolerance and interfaith dialogue inspired by Fethullah Gülen in his transnational social movement.” And they “are truly strengthening the fabric of our common humanity, as well as promoting the ongoing cultural and educational ties that bind our world together.” Recently former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan commented that the activities of the Gulen Institute hosted at University of Houston overlapped with his efforts during his tenure at the U.N. You may or may not agree with President Clinton’s or Secretary Annan’s views in other areas, but let’s agree that appreciation at this level is an indicator of significant positive social impact.

Further Readings:

“Fethullah Gulen’s Contribution to Muslim-Christian Dialogue in the Context of Abrahamic Cooperation” by Dr. Pim Valkenberg, November 3, 2005, Rice University

“Advocate of Dialogue: Fethullah Gulen” by Ali Unal, October 2000, Fountain Press

Fethullah Gulen is a supporter of democracy and human rights. He was one of the first Muslim scholars who publicly condemned September 11 attacks, and continue to condemn any form of terrorist actions. After the September 11, 2001, Gulen released a message both in New York Times and Washington Post to condemn 9/11 attacks.

Further Readings:
• “A Sunni Muslim Scholar's Humanitarian and Religious Rejection of Violence against Civilians” by Dr. Alp Aslandogan, November 12, 2007, London School of Economics

• “Fethullah Gulen's Thoughts on State, Democracy, Politics, and Terrorism” an interview with Fethullah Gulen by Dr. Zeki Saritoprak, July 2005, Muslim World Journal

With regards to claims about Fethullah Gulen:

1. Defamatory Postings Appear on Hate Sites: The inflammatory articles appear mostly as blog entries on xenophobic sites or radical websites. Some of them can easily be regarded as hate websites lacking scientific or even logical credibility.

2. Self-contradicting claims: Defamatory claims against Gulen appear to be custom designed depending on the audience. In Turkey, Gulen is accused by marginal circles of being a CIA-agent, a Mossad agent, the Vatican’s secret cardinal, or an agent of the U.S. in pursuit of the latter’s Greater Middle East Project. There are also claims that he is Jewish. To the Western audiences, he is depicted as a threat to secularism, pursuing a theocratic regime and recently as a person who is trying to infiltrate U.S. through charter schools which they portrait some schools as Gulen charter schools. I don’t think one needs to be a brain surgeon to recognize the self-contradictory nature of these claims. The interesting thing about these claims is that some of them are made by the very same people, not realizing that some members of the audience speak both languages. The following article illustrates this phenomenon.

“Hypocrisy in languages: criticizing Fethullah Gülen, English or Turkish?” by Abdulhamid Turker, 10 November 2009, Today’s Zaman

3. Manipulating the facts: Some of the defamatory articles distort, hide or otherwise misrepresent facts. For an example, see :

“Fethullah Gülen's Grand Ambition”: A Biased, Selective, Misleading, Misrepresentative and Miscalculated Article” by Dogan Koc, January 29, 2010, Fethullah Gulen Forum

Questions to ask:

1. If the defamatory accusations about Gulen were true would he be granted permanent residency as an educational expert by the US government?
2. How is it possible that these claimants are able to see what the intelligence agencies are not capable of seeing?
3. Is there a connection between these marginal groups with the ongoing Ergenekon trial in Turkey where a clandestine armed group with links to the hard-liners in the military are being brought to justice for the first time in Turkish history? Is there a pattern to the defamatory sites?
4. More importantly, what are your evidence

Further Readings:

Ergenekon Trial

Ergenekon Facts vs. Fiction:

With regards to charter schools:

According to our research charter schools are non-sectarian public schools. Through systematic inspections and audits, state regulation agencies ensure that charter schools are nonsectarian in their programs, admissions policies, employment practices, and all other operations, and are not affiliated with a sectarian school or religious institution. Furthermore, charter schools are subject to the same standards of accountability with the public schools. They are funded by the states and are accountable to the states. State boards of education oversee and inspect these schools.

It is conceivable that some individuals who work in private and public institutions are inspired by the works of Mr. Fethullah Gulen if they are originally from Turkey. According to a survey conducted by Dr. Akbar Ahmed, a professor at an American university, Gulen is regarded as a top contemporary role model in Turkey. Various online polls suggest high levels of approval for Gulen’s ideas in Turkey. You can read “Gulen and U.S. Educators” here in our blog.

Finally, you pointed out as a parent that you were happy with the school that your child attends and if the school’s accountability rating is high, our humble opinion is that that all what should matter. The people who started all these claims, accusations on the blogs seem to have agenda and post their baseless accusations on any website they come across for disinformation purposes.

We hope these comments help answer some of your questions.

Gulen Answering the Questions

What has Fethullah Gulen to do with U.S. charter schools? Sometimes called as the Gulen Charter Schools, or Gulenist schools. Both terms are refuted by Mr. Fethullah Gulen himself.

Below is the short interview with Fethullah Gulen appeared in USA Today on August 17, 2010. The interview is questioning the attribution of a group of U.S. charter schools to the social movement Mr. Gulen has inspired.

Q: Would he reflect on his connection to the U.S. public charter schools inspired by the Gulen Movement? (Gulen Charter Schools)

A: First of all, I do not approve the title "Gulen Movement" given to the civil society movement that I call "volunteers' movement." I see myself one of its participants. There might be some educators who have listened to or read my thoughts on humanity, peace, mutual respect, the culture of coexistence, and keeping the human values alive, and have come to the United States for various reasons and work at private or public schools. In fact, I have heard from the media that there are such educators.

I have no idea about the number of such educators in the United States. My relation to them is not different from the one between me and any academician working at a U.S. university who may somehow value my thoughts. Those are individuals whom I do not know personally, though they may be familiar with and may think that they benefit from my books and speeches.

Q: Does he take pride in the schools (inspired by him, not Gulen Charter Schools), which are quickly multiplying and are generally high-performing?

A: I do not have specific knowledge about the schools which are referred to in the question, nor about their academic successes. If they are successful in contributing to human well-being, love, social peace and harmony, I would applaud that. Indeed, I wish any activities contributing to the shared human values to be successful, whether they are in the field of education or any other fields of human endeavor. I do not differentiate between ethnic or religious backgrounds in this concern. This is a consequence of my being human.

Q: How does he feel about the school leaders' recent assertions in the U.S. press that the schools have "no organic connection" to Fethullah Gulen or the movement? (Although frequently labeled as Gulen charter schools)

A: I do not regularly follow the U.S. press. It is well-known that I have no relation with any institution in the form of ownership, board membership, or any similar kind. For many decades, I have expressed my ideas and opinions about social issues facing humanity. Many people have listened to my speeches and read my works. I do not approve that those who are familiar with and share these ideas and opinions to any extent, or the institutions they work at, should be viewed as connected with my person. (As you well see, he clearly stated that these are not Gulen charter schools, or Fethullah Gulen charter schools, or Gulen Movement's charter schools)

For an interview with a group of educators working at U.S. charter/public schools (referred by some as Gulen charter schools), which supports Mr. Gulen's above answers: http://gulenandcharterschools.blogspot.com/p/gulen-and-educators.html

For a couple of passages from a Texas Monthly article that illuminates the nature of relationship of Mr. Gulen with some U.S. charter schools (not Gulen Charter Schools, as are claimed by some):

Gulen-Inspired Schools

Fethullah Gulen-inspired schools are non-religious private institutions sponsored by generous entrepreneurs, altruistic educators, and dedicated parents. Using cutting-edge instructional technology and having already demonstrated outstanding academic achievements, many of these schools rank among the most prestigious educational institutions in their respective countries. Each school follows the curriculum of the host country, with the language of instruction is English. The schools provide scholarships for students who cannot afford the tuition. As many people have observed, Gulen-inspired schools are symbols of peaceful coexistence and dedication to the service of humanity. They also serve as an environment for peaceful coexistence, especially in conflict-ridden regions such as the Philippines, Macedonia, Afghanistan, Northern Iraq, Bosnia, and Kenya. (Quoted from Fethullah Gulen: Biographical Album published by the Gulen Institute).

As for some charter schools in the United States, they are not so-called Gulen charter schools. We cannot call these schools Gulen-inspired schools or Gulen charter schools, because first of all there is no tuition charged in those schools. Gulen-inspired schools are private institutions with some considerable amount of tutitions most of the time. Besides, they are continuously funded by aforementioned generous contributors.

Secondly, there is no contribution to these schools from generous entrepreneurs, altruistic educators, and dedicated parents as in the example of Gulen-inspired schools. Those schools are granted money from some foundations such as Gates Foundation and Dell Foundation, but those grants are provided within the frame of certain projects such as Texas High School Project.

Moreover, the officials of these charter schools deny any kind of formal relationship with Fethullah Gulen, who is neither the honorary president of any of these schools nor is he in their PTOs or boards.

As a scholar, I also do not put so-called Gulen charter schools in Gulen-inspired schools category. Those charter schools are definitely outside the Gulen-inspired schools realm.

What "Lies" Beyond Reality?

“Ignorance, fear, hatred, and lies beyond reality” seems to be a common pattern of many accusations in our world. The pattern well explains the motif of the statement, “Fethullah Gulen infiltrates the United States through our charter schools.” It seems to me that the only truth of the statement is that it aims to disturb people by using an irritating word as “infiltration.”

First of all, the statement lightly disregards the fact that the charter schools that are referred to are completely public institutions and not to be operated by such a reclusive person as Fethullah Gulen, who declares in an interview that appeared in USA Today that he has no relation with any institution in the form of ownership, board membership, or any similar kind. Calling these charter schools as Gulen charter schools is totally wrong, besides the term Gulen charter schools is not the equivalent of something in education. He maintains: "For many decades, I have expressed my ideas and opinions about social issues facing humanity. Many people have listened to my speeches and read my works. I do not approve that those who are familiar with and share these ideas and opinions to any extent, or the institutions they work at, should be viewed as connected with my person.”

A Texas Monthly article by William Martin, Rice University professor, supports what Fethullah Gulen declares. Martin clearly shows that the relation of Fethullah Gulen with a group of U.S. charter schools is a natural one, that is, there are Gulen-inspired educators who legally work there. The reality can also be seen at my personal interview with a group of educators working at public schools in Texas. There a physical educator says that, coming from Turkey, it would be impossible for him not to know about Fethullah Gulen and the social movement he has inspired. The educator assumes that the majority of Turkish nation sympathize or support Fethullah Gulen’s humanitarian ideals.

Fethullah Gulen is well known with his apolitical way of service to society and his stance against proselytizing people to Islam. He defends the idea that religious people should represent their values with their attitudes and let others choose to regard or not those values (Gulen 2004: 38, 115). Professor Scott Appleby, Director of Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, testifies this commonly known fact in his recent article at Open Democracy:

Gulen has his critics. His endorsement of robust religious pluralism, reluctance to proselytize publicly, and insistence that his followers build schools not mosques, has led some Islamists to conclude that Gulen preaches an “Islam-less Islam”—a fuzzy ecumenism that refuses to take seriously the supposedly absolutist claims of religion.

Professor Appleby teaches courses in American religious history and comparative religious movements at the University of Notre Dame. He examines the roots of religious violence and the potential of religious peace-building. Appleby also co-chaired the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Task Force on Religion and the Making of U.S. Foreign Policy, which released the influential report “Engaging Religious Communities Abroad: A New Imperative for U.S. Foreign Policy.” In regard to the accusations of “infiltration,” “Islamization,” etc., Dr. Appleby says, “If a tree is known by its fruits, however, thus far the Gulen people give no evidence of deserving these accusations.” What is more, Dr. Appleby points out to the Gülen-inspired movement as one that the U.S. universities and youth movements, foundations and businesses should engage.

Who is Fethullah Gulen

“Be so emphatic and tolerant that your bosom becomes wide as the ocean. Be inspired with faith and love the human being. Let there be no troubled souls to whom you do not offer a hand and about whom you remain unconcerned.”

Fethullah Gulen is a Turkish scholar, preacher, thinker, author, opinion leader, education activist, and peace advocate. He is regarded as the initiator and inspirer of the worldwide civil society movement, the Gulen Movement, which is committed to education, dialogue, peace, social justice, and social harmony. Gulen has published more than sixty books in Turkish, many of which have been translated to more than thirty languages. He was listed among the top hundred public intellectuals in the world by Foreign Policy magazine in May 2008.

Fethullah Gulen is known for his philosophical and active stance for human rights, democracy, interfaith and intercultural dialogue, science, spirituality, and against violence, segregation, and turning religion into a political ideology. Not only does his discourse cherish values such as empathetic acceptance, altruistic service to one’s community and humanity in general, the complementary roles of mind and heart, sincerity, and love of the creation; his life exemplifies them. “Serving humanity to serve God” and “living to let others live” are the core principles of his understanding of service. Fethullah Gulen's promotion of sympathy, compassion and harmonious coexistence can best be reflected in a comparison with that of Rumi, the 13th century Anatolian Sufi and spiritual poet and one of Fethullah Gulen’s sources of inspiration.

Fethullah Gulen started his career as a preacher and educational activist. In time, he succeeded in mobilizing hundreds of thousands of people for the purpose of serving society by uniting around high human values. Despite the high regard millions hold for him, Fethullah Gulen considers himself only one of the volunteers of the civil society movement he helped originate and denounces any attribution of leadership. Fethullah Gulen has never married, and has spent most of his life in Turkey, his native country. Fethullah Gulen currently resides in Pennsylvania, the United States, at a retreat facility.

[Source: Fethullah Gülen: Biographical Album published by the Gülen Institute]