Gulen insidious or inspiring?

We love these staged photos of Gulen trying to look like a Scholar.
Not bad for a 5th grade formal education.

In one corner of the courtyard, green-painted railings enclose the tomb of a saint. In another, a pair of 12-year-old boys in spotless white shirts and neatly pressed trousers politely answer visitors’ questions. In Diyarbakir, a city in Turkey’s Kurdish south-east where many children work on the streets or land in jail for throwing stones at security forces, these two have come to prepare for high school entrance exams. Asked what they want to do later, one says “doctor” and the other, grinning, declares “police”.

They are attending a study house run by supporters of Fethullah Gulen – a preacher who has inspired the creation of a vast network of schools and student dormitories that blend academic rigour, especially in the sciences, with a moral education based on Islamic principles.

“It’s not just explaining English or maths – it’s explaining what it means to be a good or bad person,” says the director of Diyarbakir’s 20 study houses. “In this system teachers come to school earlier, become friends with students and care about the relationship....In none of our schools do we teach religion. We tell them what’s right and wrong. We show them good and bad practice, and they decide.”

But in Turkey, opinion is sharply divided between those who see Mr Gulen as a force for social mobility and tolerance, and those who suspect he is insidiously undermining the country’s secular foundations. His followers have been described as “Islamic Jesuits” – and as Turkey’s equivalent of Opus Dei. Yet there is little doubt that the movement he inspires is now an important force shaping Turkish society, part of a broader evolution in which leaders emerging from a religious, business-minded middle class are gradually eclipsing older, fiercely secular, elites.

GULEN AND BUSINESS
A secular elite yields to middle-class entrepreneurs with moral purpose
For much of the past century, Turkey’s economy was dominated by a handful of conglomerates owned by the families of Istanbul’s secular business elite. Now, governments hoping to boost trade with one of the world’s fastest-growing economies are increasingly dealing with Tuskon – an association that reflects the arrival of a new middle class of conservative provincial entrepreneurs.
Its growing influence also reflects the rise of the Gulen community, from which most of its 25,000 members are drawn. “We are not a direct part of that movement,” Rizanur Meral, Tuskon president, told the Financial Times in a recent interview. “We have members with different thoughts, ideas and preferences. But we can say that the majority of our members support Mr Gulen’s ideas.”
These are the entrepreneurs who answered the call by Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish preacher, to found schools and businesses in Balkan and central Asian states after the fall of communism. Tuskon – an umbrella for scores of regional business associations – is now spearheading Turkish efforts to enter markets across sub-Saharan Africa, and strengthen ties in the Middle East.
Though officials from the traditionally secularist foreign ministry have tended to keep their distance from Gulen-inspired projects, ministers appear to view them as a useful extension of Turkey’s soft power. Tuskon often takes them to visit “Turkish schools”, as they are known overseas.
Mr Meral squeezed a Saturday breakfast meeting with the FT into a fortnight when Tuskon accompanied Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prime minister, to Russia; helped organise a visit to Ghana and Gabon by president Abdullah Gul; and hosted Gary Locke, US commerce secretary, at an event to promote Turkish-US trade.
Tuskon remains apolitical, Mr Meral insists, merely ensuring its activities do not conflict with government policy. But its members’ presence in Africa appears to have helped it influence policy – it lobbied successfully for the opening of embassies and Turkish Airlines routes across the continent, for example.
Tuskon’s main role is to help small and mid-sized businesses understand the global economy and forge contacts in new markets, Mr Meral says. But it is also trying to address inequalities at home, encouraging members to support charitable projects and invest in poor Kurdish regions, even when it does not make economic sense. “You have to have some moral incentives,” he says. “There are many business people from the east of the country who . . . think they should pay their debts to the region where they grew up.”
Yet Mr Meral admits Tuskon’s influence is attracting some with less admirable motives. “We have become very careful in selecting members,” he says. “The major criteria are to be reliable and trustworthy, to stick to business ethics . . .so they represent the Turkish business community in the best way in international markets.”

Mr Gulen – known to his admirers as hocaefendi, or respected teacher – now lives in leafy seclusion in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, nursing ill health and communicating largely though his published writings and speeches. Yet he has a following of millions, easily the most influential of Turkey’s religious communities. This Hizmet (“service”), as its friends call it, has a global reach: businessmen sympathetic to the cause have established schools – from Kazakhstan to Cambodia, the US to Iraq – and are rapidly opening them across Africa.

What the Hizmet consists of, and what it does, matters beyond Turkey’s borders. Growing prosperity and diplomatic muscle have made Ankara an assertive actor in the Middle East. Islamic movements around the region are drawing on Turkey’s experience as they challenge the old regimes. Gulen admirers are in the vanguard of Turkish businessmen in new markets; their activities may determine Turkey’s image as Ankara seeks a place at the centre of world affairs.

The professed aim of the schools is to create a “golden generation”, a new elite equipped to succeed in the global economy, while exemplifying faith, virtue and an ethos of serving others. When students graduate, many remain committed to the movement as they take up positions in teaching, business, media and public life.

“The Hizmet filled the gaps,” says Kerim Balci, a columnist for the pro-Gulen newspaper Zaman, who became involved in the movement when he left his village to go to high school and struggled to adapt to city life. “I work in a Hizmet institution. Economically also, I was given a scholarship by the Hizmet. But the real thing that kept me in was action. I meant something there – I was given duties.”

This commitment and absorption in the life of the community is typical. Almost all supporters also make financial donations – 20 per cent of income is not unusual.

To outsiders, such zeal can inspire both admiration and unease. Secularists worry that Gulen missionaries, once persecuted by the state but now working freely under the rule of the mildly Islamist AK party, will transform Turkish society, increasing pressure to conform to conservative values. But the bigger fear , beyond ideology, is that Gulen followers may be infiltrating state institutions, using their influence to undeclared ends.

These long-standing fears reached a new pitch when police swooped last month on an Istanbul publishing house with orders to seize all copies of a draft book. Entitled The Imam’s Army, it detailed the Gulen movement’s supposed dominance within the police. Its author, the journalist Ahmet Sik, had been jailed a few weeks earlier, accused of links to Ergenekon – allegedly a terrorist network that plotted to overthrow the government. But for many observers, his arrest reinforced suspicions that the Ergenekon probe – in which scores of government critics are on trial alongside known thugs – was being used to settle political scores.

Others accused of helping Ergenekon include Ilhan Cihaner, a prosecutor who had been investigating local branches of the Gulen community, and Hanefi Avci, a former police chief who wrote a book on the movement. Nedim Sener, another journalist arrested in February, had co-authored research criticising the ways Hizmet members sought to influence young people and dominate commercial life.

“Anyone who touches him burns,” Mr Sik called as he was bundled into a police car. When The Imam’s Armywas finally leaked online, it was downloaded more than 100,000 times in 24 hours – despite the fact that it contained little new information and was clearly a rough draft.

With his mild, contemplative expression and neat white moustache, Mr Gulen is not an obvious figure to inspire fear. Born in 1941 in the eastern province of Erzurum, he was largely self-taught after primary school but read voraciously – drawing inspiration from Said Nursi, a thinker who advocated reason, tolerance and distance from politics.

Mr Gulen began his career as an imam in Turkey’s state service, at a time when there appeared to be little choice between extreme conservatism and an extreme secularism that rejected Turkey’s history and religious traditions. Instead, he advanced an interpretation of Islam that stresses tolerance, condemns violence and embraces modernity. He has advocated action to alleviate poverty, promote education and advance dialogue between different religions.

Bill Park at King’s College, London, has described it as a “heady and promising combination of faith, identity, material progress, democratisation and dialogue”.

These messages make Mr Gulen a welcome antidote in the west to more radical ideologues. He has lived in the US since 1999, when he left Turkey under threat of prosecution during a clampdown on Islamists. In contrast to Turkey’s Islamist Milli Gorus movement, whose parties contest elections, Mr Gulen insists he has no political ambitions and preaches respect for authority – advising supporters to waive obligations, such as wearing the Islamic headscarf, if necessary to gain an education in the secular system. When sympathisers enter politics they are told to cut ties, says Mr Balci, the pro-Gulen columnist.

“The Nursi-Gulen tradition doesn’t envision an ‘Islamic state’. It rather seeks a liberal-democratic state that will be tolerant to its missionary work,” Mustafa Akyol, a commentator on religious affairs, wrote last year.

Mr Gulen himself rarely gives interviews to rebut the accusations against him – some of which stem from the wilder fringes of a fertile conspiracy culture. He has no spokesman, simply publishing a list of more than 80 “claims and answers” on his English website. There he insists he has no links to the finances or running of the schools, no possessions except books and clothes, and no wish to influence any state institution. He has said the word “movement” misdescribes the Hizmet, as it implies political aims, and even rejects terms such as “follower” or “member”.

Yet pro-Gulen media clearly seek to shape the political agenda. Zaman campaigns to end military interference in democracy and has championed the Ergenekon investigation in that context. It is supporting the AK party of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prime minister, ahead of June parliamentary elections. Mr Gulen himself also intervened directly in politics for the first time last year, calling for a Yes vote in a referendum on government-sponsored changes to the military-era constitution.

“I wish we had a chance to raise the dead from their graves and urge them to cast Yes votes,” he said, in comments that shocked even his own followers – and raised speculation he might also pick sides in June’s polls. The community’s support could be “a huge factor in these elections”, says Gareth Jenkins, an Istanbul-based analyst who has angered Gulenists by criticising the Ergenekon investigation. He believes Gulenist support could also be crucial if a battle develops between Mr Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul.

Most Gulen supporters see AK as Turkey’s best option at present. But no politician likes a rival power centre emerging – and Gulen media often side with Mr Gul, not Mr Erdogan, when views of the two diverge.

Party politics aside, critics say it is disingenuous to deny the Hizmet’s influence in a society where people advance by personal connections. Research led by Binnaz Toprak of Istanbul’s Bahcesehir University detailed interviews with businessmen in provincial cities who felt joining the community was the only way to prosper, while abstaining would mean losing custom and being shut out of municipal tenders. Many bought Zaman newspaper or attended the weekly meetings of local Hizmet circles in response to these implicit pressures and not through genuine conviction, the 2009 study found.

In Diyarbakir, many people consider the Hizmet, for all its claims of neutrality, as a rival power to Kurdish nationalist groups. “They are putting pressure on people, they want to shape people,” says one local politician, declining to be named because “talking about Gulen is not an auspicious business; when you talk about him, something happens”.

Hizmet members say secularists are too ready to believe any conspiracy that fits their prejudices. “Some people believe whatever is said against the movement. It’s understandable because the movement is changing what’s happening in Turkey,” says Fatih Ceran of the Journalists and Writers Foundation, which acts as its unofficial public relations arm, politely explaining there is no way to seek comment from Mr Gulen himself. “Some people here want a more polarised Turkey and the movement is going very much against it.”

Yet fears are magnified by the difficulty of identifying who supports the Hizmet and what it consists of. Gulen-inspired organisations are happy to welcome visitors and explain their activities – stressing their charitable and non-proselytising nature. But many individuals conceal their sympathies. US consular officials were unsettled by the reluctance of visa applicants visiting Mr Gulen to explain their motives, according to a 2006 cable published by Wikileaks.

The movement’s boundaries are vague: it attracts both committed and casual followers and has no membership lists or financial statements. Businessmen from one city might open schools in Kyrgyzstan – or an individual might support one student. “There’s no way to speculate on numbers because it’s non-hierarchical: there’s no central organisation,” says Helen Ebaugh of the University of Houston, who is researching the movement’s finances.

Supporters say this lack of definition is a strength. But as the Hizmet expands and becomes more influential, could its lack of structure leave it open to exploitation by people joining out of self-interest rather than conviction? Mr Gulen issued a rare statement denying any wish to suppress Mr Sik’s book. But one theory is that the raid on the publishers was orchestrated by Gulenists within the police, acting in their own interests and not on orders from any authority.

“It is possible theoretically that some people are using [the movement] for their own betterment,” says Mr Ceran. Others argue that anyone who approached the Hizmet purely to advance their career would either be deterred by the culture of donations, prayer and public service – or be inspired to join in.

Whatever the truth, a force that set out to bridge divisions in Turkish society is now inspiring fear among a broad section of the population. “You are trying to abolish one hidden power and you are creating another one,” says Sengul, a professional woman in Istanbul. “There are democratisation initiatives and so on, but at the end of it people are scared of reading a book.”

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Gulen Movement in Bed with politicians and the CIA

Is Fethullah Gulen Working for the CIA?

http://www.kurdishaspect.com/doc043011AM.html

Kurdishaspect.com - By Dr. Aland Mizell

Is Fethullah Gulen really a CIA agent? Or does Fethullah Gulen know how to use the CIA for his interest? Why is the Gulen movement more successful than any other Muslim movement in Turkey or even outside of Turkey? Is the Gulen movement  really chosen by God and making his followers “the chosen ones”? Who introduced Gulen to the Washington Circle?  What was the role of the Jewish community, such as the Anti-Defamation League, in promoting him in the USA?  Gulen and his followers are opportunistic. They know how to use people and systems for their purpose; for example, in the eighties he positioned himself against Communism to get the support of the USA. Gulen never takes risks but rather finds the direction of the wind, and then his followers will do anything to succeed.  I would not be surprised if Gulenists have already infiltrated the CIA. In the past Dr. Necip Hablemitoglu, professor of history at Ankara University studied the relation of Fethullah Gulen’s community with the CIA. In his study he claimed that the CIA used Fethullah Gulen or that Gulen worked for the CIA. Dr. Hablemitoglu was assassinated in 2002, and his case has still not been solved. Regarding Gulen’s connection to the CIA, former Turkish Intelligence Chief, Osman Nuri Gundes, in his memoir claimed that Gulen’s movement has been providing cover for the CIA since the mid-1990s, and that in the 90s, the movement sheltered 130 CIA agents at its schools in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan alone. The memoir revealed that the CIA operates in Central Asia by using the Gulenists’ movement. Furthermore, the Washington Post, hastening its news sells, printed the partial and prejudiced coverage of this recently published memoir by Chief Gundes. I think that the publication was an important piece although not a fair, objective news analysis, but rather a marketing tool and a kind of propagandistic journalism for the Gulenists. I think that the author failed to demonstrate the intense secrecy of the organization and neglected to conduct further investigation to see if the Gulenists do have a connection with the CIA.

In addition, the author of the Washington Post article could have interviewed more people not Just Graham Fuller, author of The Future of Political Islam, an ex-CIA agent and former CIA station chief in Afghanistan, and a favorable voice for the movement to see if Fuller’s assertions are relevant or not. It seems Mr. Fuller explicitly denies CIA connections with Gulenists’ missionaries. Further, Fuller claims that he has no knowledge about the Gulenist movement, but then later he adds that he did write a letter to the FBI in 2006 saying that Mr. Gulen is not a danger to US security and urging the government not to deport him to his native country of Turkey. If Graham Fuller does not know much about Gulen, then why would he write a letter to the FBI to say that he is not a danger to American security or to argue against his extradition?  Why would he give a free ride to Gulenists and to Gulen? How long did Fuller study the Gulen movement before he made such statements about Gulen’s role in Central Asia or about his not being a danger? How did Fuller and former USA Ambassador Morton Abramowitz and businessman Ishak Alaton know each other? What was the role of the Anti-Defamation League’s president, Abraham Foxman, and the League’s Deputy National Director, Kenneth Jacobson?  The Post piece was far from investigative reporting.What other liaisons call into question Gulen’s relation to the CIA? To what extent did the CIA and Gulenists collaborate with General Rashid Dostum, the leader of Afghanistan’s minority Uzbek community? In 1998, the Taliban forced Dostum to flee to Turkey; he returned from exile in Turkey to Afghanistan in April 2001. Seeing his potential, President Hamid Karzai appointed Dostum as Chief of Staff to the Commander In Chief of the Armed Forces in 2005. What reshaping or alliances occurred during those three years in Turkey?

Besides the CIA, another group Gulen used and became significantly connected with was the US Jewish community and with the worldwide one, chiefly through Ishak Alaton, co- founder and chairman of the executive board of Alarko Holding Company. Alaton is one of the wealthiest business tycoons in the world, owning Alarko with its interests primarily in energy, land development, housing, investment, tourism, and other enterprises. He is a Jew raised in Turkey. Having been a courageous public voice for Gulen and Gulenists in Turkey and abroad, he is very close to Gulen and regularly keeps in touch thanks to his worldwide contacts. In any difficulties Gulen and Gulenists ask for help from Alaton. For example, the Alaton’s had close business alliances in Turkmenistan, so that when Gulen’s schools ran into political trouble, Gulen asked for his help to keep his schools open there. Also, when the Russian authorities closed down his operations and did not let Gulenists open schools in Russia, Gulen sent Ishak Alaton to tell the Russian authority that Gulen’s followers were not fundamentalists and to lend Alaton’s credibility in testifying that they were safe. In 2006, when Gulen had problems with his immigration in the US, one of Gulen’s closest friends, Ahmet Kara, and the editor of the Zaman newspaper, Ekrem Dumanli, again asked help from Alaton because the Gulenist leaders were nervous about how to prevent his deportation from America.  Alaton asked help from the former USA Ambassador to Turkey, Morton Abramowitz.  In part through Abramowitz’s intervention and other CIA letters of recommendation besides Fuller’s, the US Office for Immigration did not deport Gulen to his native country of Turkey. 

Like the CIA, Gulenists thrive on secrecy. For Gulenists a strategy without

tactics is the slowest route to accomplish their goals. The core of the

organization is secrecy (Sir Tutmak) and caution (Tedbirli olmak) because

tactics without an overarching strategy for them is the noise before the defeat. Secrecy becomes an addiction for Gulenists. They are trained not to give information away, and, according to Gulen. Keeping a secret is equivalent to guarding one’s chastity. Keeping secrets whether personal, collegial, or national is like keeping themselves chaste, so they must be meticulous about keeping the secret as they would be about their honor. Conversely those who spread secrets damage their honor and reputation by leaving them unguarded. Before a candidate joins the organization the Gulenists will indoctrinate the student about how to keep secrets.  If followers want to tell someone a secret, they must be sure that they can trust him or her with their honor. An unreliable person, one who is ignorant of the value of chastity, should not be entrusted with keeping a secret. Gulen explains this doctrine in his Pearls of Wisdom.  He teaches that hearts are created as safes for keeping secrets. Intelligence is their lock; will power is their key. No one can break into the safe and steal its valuables if the lock or keys are not faulty. He urges his followers to bear in mind that those who carry others' secrets to you might bear yours to others. Further, he cautions them not to give such tactless people any chance to learn even the smallest details of your private concerns. A secret is a power only as long as it stays with its owner but is a weapon that may be used against its owner if it passes into the hands of others. Developing his point, Gulen explains, “This is the meaning of one of our traditional sayings: ‘The secret is your slave but you become its slave if you disclose it.’” The details of many important affairs can be protected only if they are kept secret. Often enough when the involved parties do not keep certain matters secret no progress is achieved. In addition, serious risks might confront those who are involved particularly if the matter concerns delicate issues of national life and its continuation. This doctrine admonishes them, “Explain what you must but never give away all of your secrets. Those who freely publicize the secrets of their hearts drag themselves and their nation toward an inevitable downfall .If a state cannot protect its secrets from its enemies it cannot develop. If an army reveals its strategy to its antagonists it cannot attain victory. If key workers are won over by the competitors their employers cannot succeed.” Secrecy undergirds Gulen’s life and movement. 

If Gulen does not have a secret agenda, then why would his followers be so

secretive? The truth never envelops itself in mystery, yet we see that

Gulenists’ claims about tolerance, interfaith dialogue, justice, peace and

equality slowly reveal the reality behind the movement as it developed in

Turkey. What Gulenists want is total power and one-man rule; they want a status so that none could dare to object to them or to their leader, because they sincerely believe that Allah has chosen them to disseminate their brand of Turkish Islam to the world, and therefore that everything they do is right and without mistakes. That is why the best weapon for a dictator’s regime is secrecy, but the best weapon for a real democracy is openness and transparency, is it not? How democratic, open, and transparent are the Gulenists?

Why did the CIA support Gulenists in Central Asia? It is no secret that the CIA and Washington support Gulenists in Central Asia to counter the Iranian version of the Shia religious influence there.  After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, there was a social, political, and religious vacuum. Central Asian states were weak, so obviously the world would ask who would fill that vacuum. Even at that time when Gulen sent his followers to Central Asia, he asked them to hasten, urging, “If you don’t go now, later this door could be closed, and others will fill your place.” It was not a surprise that Islam filled that vacuum because the majority of the Central Asian countries have a Muslim heritage. Having recently emerged from an atheistic Communism, they more readily embraced their traditional religion. But after the collapse of Soviet Union the balance of power changed as well. Before this downfall, the East was dominated by the Soviet Union and the West by America, but afterwards the United States became the single superpower and thus had its chance to extend its power to Central Asia.

Another player that tried to benefit from this power vacuum, thus bringing about the US alliance with Gulen , was Iran, because it was important for Iran to be involved in the political and social process of Central Asian countries, Furthermore, Iran wanted to influence the newly independent states with the Shia version of Islam, so that they could export the Islamic revolution to these countries and thereby tie them more closely to Iran.  Iran’s neighboring Central Asian country, Tajikistan, does not have Turkic roots but rather is more Persian.  Because of the hostile relations between Iran and the United States, the collapse of the Soviet bloc was not a desirable event for Iran because Iran and the Soviet Union were allies to confront the United States. Therefore, the collapse of the Soviet Union raised the question about which model the Central Asian countries should use as an example. There were two choices: one was Iran whose hostility against the US interests in the region were well known, and the second choice was Turkey.  The US was nervous that Iran would back a radical

Islamic movement in the Central Asian countries to create Islamic regimes that would be loyal to Iran and threatening to American national interests in the region; therefore, Washington urged the Central Asian countries to adopt the Turkish model, which at the time was supposed to be based on secularism, a free market economy, and democracy. Then in 1992, the US Secretary of the State, James Baker, during his trip to Central Asia, urged the Central Asian countries to adopt the seemingly secular and democratic Turkish model for their political and economical development, not the Iranian model. Especially after 9/11, the US invasion of Afghanistan increased the political will that the US should more intensely confront Iran because the US claimed Iran made it more difficult to win the battle against terrorism because it aided Al-Qaida.

          

Thus, Turkey and Iran began fighting for a new hegemonic power in Central Asia. Because of the new states’ religious and ethnic ties with Turkey, the demise of U.S.S.R. opened a new door of opportunity for Turkey to renew its kinship with them and its interest in their rich resources, and many Muslims, opened a vast number of schools and invested in businesses there for the long run. However, after the Soviet Union fell, a political space allowed for the rapid growth of Fundamentalism as well as for new national identities. Many Central Asian students went outside their countries, especially to Saudi Arabia and to Egypt to relearn their religion. In response the Gulen community established his religious schools to compete with Iranian Shi’ism and Saudi Wahabism in the region. Turkey desired to influence the republics with its Sunni religion, and Iran wanted to promulgate its Shia sect. In the face of these alternatives, the United States’ policy urged Turkey to become the dominant model for social-political and economic development in Central Asia and in the Middle East. The U.S. viewed Turkey as a democratic country with a free market economy that would influence the newly independent Central Asian countries. Consequently, Washington saw the influence of the Turkish brand of Islam in the Central Asia in a short run as in America’s interest but in the long run understood that it could backfire.

The story of the CIA’s involvement in this strategy emerges at this point. In

the short run the Turkish social and economic model would restrain the Iranian model of Fundamental Islam and thus slow the growth of Fundamentalism in Central Asia and would prevent a confrontational approach to the region’s problems. But Washington did not calculate the long-term US interest in the region because in the long run aligning with Turkish Islam could backfire and could damage the U.S.’s economic interests in the Central Asian and Middle Eastern regions. For example, in 1979, the U.S. supported the small evil Taliban regime in order to

contain the seemingly larger evil of the Soviet Union. After defeating the

bigger evil, the small evil became problematic for the U.S. in that region. The U.S.’s interest in Central Asia would be affected long-term by the new growth of the Turkish version of Islam. Today this version of Islam has become almost a dominant power in Central Asia especially in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan. The political space to gain such power may have resulted from Gulen’s courtship with the CIA in those countries.

I do not know why CIA agents still deny that they know about this association. Because of Fethullah Gulen’s vast network of schools and businesses, thousands of students are graduating each year from those schools, speaking Turkish, practicing the Turkish version of Islam, and moving into key governmental positions. With this strategy Gulen seeks to bring back the Ottoman Empire. Yet, Washington sees the movement only as an alternative to radicalism. Politically as well as religiously Turkey has been fighting for a long time for a new hegemonic power in the Middle East. In addition, Turkey and Iran have been competing for Islamic leadership. Who is the best suited to represent Islam? Turkish Muslims, like Fethullah Gulen, argue that the Ottoman Empire represented Islam for almost six hundred years, and thus the Turks are the only Muslims who represent true Islam. That’s why the CIA supports Gulen’s sect, and it is well known.  If the CIA agents do not know anything about the Gulen movement, that means the US foreign interests  are in danger, but, of course, the CIA, like Gulen, deny they do not have any relation because both are trained well and require covert operations for their success.Gulen urged his followers not to act prematurely, because it might cost them heavily. Gulen teaches his followers to know their enemy, explaining that if they know the enemy and know themselves, then they do not need to fear the outcome. Gulen trains his followers like CIA agents, thereby creating good obedient young soldiers ready to give their life for the purpose of this (Hizmet) service. I would claim that Gulenists are not working for the CIA, but rather Gulenists are using the CIA for their interest. They know how to use people for their purpose. For example, if today Gulenists’ schools are not closed in Central Asian countries, it is because Gulenists secretly sent the former President of Turkey, Turgot Özal, to visit the schools in Central Asian countries and to tell the heads of the States that they are not a threat, like CIA agent Fuller told the US government that Gulen is not a threat to the USA. The public did not know that the former President of Turkey had a connection with Gulen and his movement; the public did not know that Gulen secretly sent Özal to Central Asia to prevents his schools from being closed; the public did not know that Gulen sent former president Özal to the Balkans to promote his schools as well until Özal died in 1993, when Opal’s connecting with the movement became public. Also, Gulen himself one time said that he asked then President Özal, to intervene because the Gulenists had been kicked out of the military and police academy.  Özal’ s answered to Gulen that he had been followed by the Turkish intelligence and everything had been wired, so the Gulenists knew that the CIA had been following them even infiltrated within them; that is why they were so careful.

Did the CIA help Gulenists in Uzbekistan or not? What went wrong in the summer of 1994-1995 in Uzbekistan?  Why did so many Gulenists teachers and bellet men (dormitory counselors) go to Turkey for summer vacations and were not able to return to Uzbekistan? The Gulenists are not working for the CIA because in Uzbekistan in the summer of 1994, more than 150 Gulenists belletmen and teachers went to back to Turkey for summer vacation, but also more than 100 belletmen stayed in Uzbekistan, supposedly the first group would take their turn first, go to Turkey, and then come back so the next group could go. But they could not come back to Uzbekistan again because President Kerimov suspected their acvitivities and closed some of the schools. Thus, the half of the teachers and belletmen who were left behind in Uzbekistan could not go back to Turkey, because if they went back, they would not have been re-admitted and that would have been the end of the Gulenist movement in Uzbekistan. Gulen feared the closings could spread to other neighboring countries. He tried everyway to solve the problem, but the Uzbek government did not change its decision. It closed the schools and did not let the followers who had gone to Turkey back into Uzbekistan.

Gulenists used all their power but still failed; the reason they failed to solve

the problem with the Uzbek government was because one of the high positions in Gulen’s organization gave the sensitive information to the Uzbek government. The person who gave information was in charge of the belletmen, all the schools, and the English department; of course, some of the belletmens who stayed in Uzbekistan did nothing for almost one year, wasted their time, were upset, and wanted to kill the person, but Gulenists deported the person to Turkey. No one knows what happened to that person, whether he was excommunicated or whether he stayed in Turkey, but the rest of belletmens were sent to the neighboring countries of Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan. It is not a secret that the CIA and the American government supported the Gulenist movement in Central Asia against Iran‘s influence there. Gulen slowly explained the connection with Ozal and the politics, but in reality, Gulen would say in public that they were not close to any party, but behind closed doors, he would support Ozal. To them, the party, ideology, or principles that “the host” is following is irrelevant; what matters for them is how they can use a person, institution, or source for their interest in a kind of symbiotic relationship. Furthermore, the founder and former leader of the Leftist Demokratik Sol Parti, Bulent Ecevit, praised Gulen during the soft coup against Gulen in 1995 and 1997. Ecevit convinced the secular military that Gulen and his community were serving the country with their schools. In particular, he noted that their schools in the Central Asian republics had decreased Iran's influence there. It is true that the US embassy and consulates in Central Asia made it easy for Gulenists to get visas to come to the States from post-Soviet countries; for example, the president of a university in Georgia is the mother of the President of Georgia.

Students from those schools and particularly Gulenists’ favorite students have an easy way to come to the USA. Some of their schools even have a connection under the academic and student platform to come to the States. Why would the Gulenists deny their relation to the CIA? The truth seems to be optional for Gulenists. According to Gulen’s teachings, his followers have an obligation to know the truth but that truth cannot be revealed anywhere anytime, because if the time is not right, they cannot tell the truth.  For example, the strategy of denial is fabricated to appear that they are not part of any movement or community if any charge against them appears in the news. Sometimes if they need to prevaricate for the sake of the movement, they can deny any accusation, and by being cautious not give way all the information. Rather, they are to work patiently and silently until all the institutions are in order to seize power. Timing about when and how to reveal their true goal is very crucial for the Gulenists. Gulenists are experts on how to buy and use persons for their interest.

Therefore, a lie can be justified. Gulenists are very good at using someone for their interest; it does not matter whether he is a criminal or a dictator as

long as he or she helps his movement to advance. A good example is the President of Turkmenistan, who is a dictator, but they praised him. Gulen trained his followers that when they go to a place, not to denigrate the authority even if he is cruel because if they do, he will harm them or their cause.

Because of their secrecy, deception, unethical tactics for silencing critics

including threats and intimidation, deliberate misinformation campaigns,

brainwashing, and the use of bribery to recruit supporters, the movement is

successful. Gulen has done his calculations many times before his followers go to battle. Sun Tzu said, “He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious.” Gulenists know their enemy well and that is why they do not fear the result of their fight. The problem is that the West does not know that the enemy is within, so they should be worried about the result of the fight. A country can survive its fools and its opportunists; however, it cannot endure the enemy from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly, like Al-Qaida. But the enemy within moves freely amongst those within the gates, but surely he is whispering and rustling through all the alleys. For the enemy within speaks, eats, acts, dresses, and behaves in ways familiar to his victims. I do not believe Gulen’s schools and civic organizations are merely motivated by the selfless desire to promote education, but rather they aim to foster the Ottoman Empire’s ideology and to have global

power. What other organizations promoting civil society are so secretive,

reactive, murky, and opaque? What other organization encourage their

organization to infiltrate all the institutions and establishments? As for his relation to CIA, it is clearly mutual and symbolic one. As in Biology, the two live in association with one another. The specific from of symbiosis is mutualism in that both benefits. The CIA believes that it ameliorates radicalism by associating with Gulenists, and Gulen receives the protection and a foil by the CIA’s involvement

First American Muslim Congressman Supports Gulen Schools- Another Gulen Politicial Tool

American Congressman Ellison (Minnesota) the first Muslim member of Congress at his recent FREE trip to Turkey provided by the Gulen business man TUSKON.  Where he praised the Gulen Schools



I guess the boys forgot to tell Congressman Ellison that he’s not supposed to mention the direct association that Fetullah Gulen has with the 120 “Gulen-inspired” charter schools spread throughout the United States.

Apparently, when they gave Ellison the invitation to Turkey they forgot to give him the skinny on keeping that part hush-hush.  The deal is supposed to be -- just accept the money, take the trip, eat the baklava, drink the tea, and shut-up. 

Looks like Ellison will not be invited back in the near future unless he can get his story straight. But then—the boys have a hard time doing that too.

And Ellison sure danced around the topic of the Armenian genocide, didn’t he? At least he got that part of “politicking” right.

Ellison was quoted as saying, “That the Turkish community in the US is more active than in the past and that he is in close contact with Turks there.” We just bet you are Ellison, and we wonder who paid for your trip to Turkey and if the boys have contributed to your political campaign.

Oh! And speaking of campaign contributions, and according to the website, Investigative Project.org,  here's a few of Keith's supporters: "Other donors include Turkish Islamist Merve Kavakci, and Asad Zaman, principal of the MAS-run Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy in Minneapolis, and Aly Abuzaakouk, former executive director of the American Muslim Council and a former IIIT publications director."

Read more at: http://www.investigativeproject.org/1913/keith-ellisons-mb-support

And Ellison also noted that “Turkey and the US have successfully cooperated in security and politics and urged both countries to focus on trade ties.” Oh! We know all about those “trade ties,” just take a look at all the Turkish H1-B visa holders that they have traded for American teaching and administrative jobs at the cost of unemployed and qualified Americans.

And a side-note to Ellison, did you bother to research how many H1-B visas have been granted to those schools and that those guys and gals are making more than their American counterparts, and discriminating in lots of other ways in the process – or wasn’t that part of your trip itinerary?

http://www.sundayszaman.com/sunday/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=241777

‘Turkey best example of how Islam, democracy can coexist’ 23 April 2011, Saturday / EMRE SONCAN, ANKARA

Congressman Keith Ellison came to Turkey upon an invitation from the Turkish business group TUSKON.

Keith Ellison, the first Muslim member of the US Congress, has said Turkey is the most important country in the region and the best example of how Islam and democracy can coexist.

Ellison, visiting Turkey upon the invitation of the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON), had talks with Turkish officials, including Finance Minister Ali Babacan, in Ankara. The congressman told Today’s Zaman in an interview that it is very important for Turkey to undertake humanitarian aid mission in this region, while praising Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s initiatives with respect to the unrest and chaos in the Mideast and North Africa. Ellison pointed to the historical link between the US and Turkey and said the ties will continue to grow closer in the future, too.

Ellison also welcomed schools established in the US by businessmen inspired by Fethullah Gülen and said these schools contribute to tolerance and dialogue and that he likes their approach to education.

The congressman stressed that the Turkish community in the US is more active than in the past and that he is in close contact with Turks there.

In a separate interview with the Anatolia news agency, Ellison said the events of 1915, which Armenians claim constitute genocide as large numbers of Armenians were slaughtered at the hands of the Ottomans, is a very complicated topic and can be approached in multiple ways. For this reason, he said, this issue should be left to historians, adding that he is not sure if the Congress is the correct venue. He said he hopes Turkey and Armenia continue to discuss this issue in a constructive way.

When asked about different policies developed by the US and Turkey, the congressman said this does not mean the two countries are in a dispute, adding that Turkey is now representing American diplomatic and consular interests in Libya. Lauding Turkey’s role in Libya, Ellison said he hopes Turkey becomes successful as it is trying to save as many lives as possible. There are people in need of food and shelter in Libya and Turkey is doing a good job there, he said.

Assessing Turkish-Israeli relations, Ellison said Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize Israel and that a lethal Israeli raid of the Mavi Marmara ship last year in which nine civilians were killed was a very unfortunate and tragic incident. Ellison urged both Israel and Turkey to continue talks to solve the dispute.

Ellison added that Turkey and the US have successfully cooperated in security and politics and urged both countries to focus on trade ties.

Explaining that trade between the two countries might swell by the help of trade-facilitating organizations such as TUSKON, Ellison said Turkey’s goods and services meet international standards.

Gulen Schools Worldwide-Turkmenistan closes Gulen Turkish Schools and now halts all Turkish Contracts for construction

Turkish Contractors in Turkmenistan are not able to fund their projects because of the shut down and lack of payment by the Turkmenistan governement, who has also confiscated their equipment.

As reported earlier, Turkmenistan is following their other Central Asian fellow country of Uzbekistan and closing down all Gulen Turkish schools.  This also is including the businesses that the Turkish Contractors have set up in country. 



Turkish contractors in Turkmenistan facing payment crisis

GÖKHAN KURTARAN
ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News
Sunday, April 24, 2011

Turkish construction companies in Turkmenistan are on the edge of big losses as the government rejects to pay an alleged $1 billion for completed or ongoing projects, businessmen say. The Turkmen government is either seizing equipment or offering new and attractive contracts to overcome upcoming legal problems, they say

Turkish construction firms doing business in Turkmenistan are facing financial problems as the government is rejecting to pay the cost of completed projects worth $1 billion, according to contractors speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Sunday.

“More than 40 Turkish construction firms have been subjected to mistreatment,” said Tarık Bozbey, head of the Mediterranean Exporters Union and head of Bozbey Construction. “Turkish firms there are in a serious financial struggle.”

Bozbey said that because the Turkmen government was not making its obligatory payments the construction of some projects could not be completed. The government seized construction vehicles and equipment from some Turkish firms “illegally,” according to Bozbey. “This means billions of dollars in losses for the firms,” he said, adding that the Turkmen state had violated international laws by mistreating the Turkish firms.

“And yet Turkmenistan continues to invite Turkish firms for new infrastructure and construction projects worth nearly $4 billion,” Bozbey said, adding that the firms are hesitating over starting up new projects. “As we have already lost million of dollars, how can we consider new projects?”

Talking to the Daily News, Ozan İçkale, a board member of İçkale Construction, said Turkmenistan, which called on Turkish firms in early 2006, has changed its attitude toward international companies due to its decreasing income from energy resources.

According to İçkale, Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov increased the price of natural gas from $60 to $160 in 2007. Relying on energy income from the state, the president signed contracts with Turkish construction firms to turn Ashgabat into a “new Dubai.”

Russia had been importing nearly 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually via Gazprom until an explosion at a Turkmen pipeline in April 2009. Various allegations by Moscow and Ashgabat paved the way for a serious decrease in gas exports and income for the Turkmen government, İçkale said. “They started to urge Turkish firms to rush and complete construction projects with no payment,” he said. When Turkish firms there started facing serious difficulties in financing their operations, “The Turkmen authorities seized our vehicles and equipment worth nearly $12 million,” said İçkale.

“Some Turkish businessmen are even imprisoned with no clear accusations,” claimed İçkale, without giving any names. According to İçkale, the government is forcing Turkish firms to leave the country before paying the total cost of the projects.

His company had contracts worth nearly $350 million, but collect only $205 million so far, İçkale said. These projects include a hotel in Turkmenbashi, irrigation canals in Abada city, a 72-house residence project, two schools, a theater and a convention center in Ashgabat. İçkale said the cost of seized vehicles and equipment owned by his company was nearly $100 million.

“Turkmenistan has been one of the most important markets for Turkish construction firms after Libya caused firms to loose millions of dollars,” said İçkale.

Legal action

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a Turkish businessman who still has investments in Turkmenistan said nearly 25 Turkish firms would apply to the International Center for Settlement of Investments Disputes, or ICSID, in two weeks’ time.

The ICSID is an autonomous international institution established under the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between states and nationals of other states with over 140 member states.

“Such a move will put Turkmenistan in a tough position, as Turkmenistan has already violated international laws and mistreated many Turkish investors,” the businessman said.

 President takes initiative

According to the businessman, Turkmenistan President Berdimuhamedov recently called Turkey’s President Abdullah Gül and asked for the Turkish firms to not file against the Turkmen state at the ICSID. Gül decided to organize a trip to Turkmenistan to discuss the matter and resolve the dispute together with Turkish Foreign Trade Minister Zafer Çağlayan, the source said.

The source also said an independent institution based in the United Kingdom has been working to determine the amount of the losses of Turkish firms in Turkmenistan. The result will be reported to the international court, he said.

The losses might reach more than $1 billion, according to the source.

Turkish firms, which have invested nearly $1.5 billion in Turkmenistan in more than 800 projects, had $20 billion worth of contracts in the country as of the end of last year, according to figures provided by the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey, or DEİK.

© 2011 Hurriyet Daily News
URL: www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=turkish-constructors-in-turkmenistan-facing-payment-crisis-2011-04-24

Pioneer Science Academy USA Fethulla Gullen

Gulen Schools Worldwide-Schools run by Turkish Islamic group SHUT down in Afghanistan

Kandahar Afghan Turkish School

Then Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali  Babacan visited one of the Schools for Girls, note the ever present Turkish Flag
that are given to students at all Gulen "inspired" schools, even in America.

International Mazar-i sharif Afghan Turk High School

Keep in mind this article is over 3 years old, and the first one is 10 years old,  we have information that the boys schools are still open - and quite possible the girls have re opened.  As you know Gulen is tied in with the heroin poppy sead manufacturing in Afghanistan.

BBC reported that Taleban shut down schools opened by Gulen Movement in Afghanistan. Schools were providing contemperary education for free.

Girls and women are hard hit by the Taleban's stance on education. Below is the story by BBC.

Thursday, 17 May, 2001
By Afghanistan correspondent Kate Clark

Taleban shuts more Afghan schools

Six schools run by a Turkish Islamic group have been shut down in Afghanistan.

In a country where the state education system is suffering from a chronic lack of resources, the Turkish schools were rare centres of educational excellence.

The group said problems emerged when the Taleban demanded control of their finances.

Some 2,000 pupils attended the six Turkish schools, which were free.

They had a curriculum which was strong in science and languages as well as religion and they were well resourced.

Lack of resources

Almost uniquely in Afghanistan, each school had a laboratory and a library.

A representative for the schools said they had been ready to accept many of the Taleban's demands - that teachers should grow long beards, for example, and pupils wear turbans - but he said they could not agree to hand over their budget to the Taleban.

He said the Taleban had wanted all the Turkish teachers to leave the country, leaving just one official who would hand the budget over to the Taleban education ministry for it to distribute.

The representatives said they were faced with no choice but to close the schools.

The Taleban may try to keep them running using Afghan teachers. But without proper resources they are likely to deteriorate to the level of the rest of the state education system.

Parents and teachers there complain that there is hardly any funding for salaries or books and that each year the curriculum becomes more and more weighed down by religious subjects.

Expense for poor

The Taleban has also ordered all students in private English and computer courses to wear turbans, the headdress that the Taleban says is an Islamic tradition.

At the start of the year, they ordered all state sector pupils beyond grade three to wear turbans, a considerable expense for poorer families.

Computer and English students in Kabul said the religious police had visited their classrooms, threatening to expel students and close down any school which defied the order.

Story was originally published on http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1336472.stm

 The schools were re-opened later years. Below are two more stories about the Gulen-inspired schools in Afghanistan.

Medal given to Turkish schools in Afghanistan

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has honored Turkish schools in his country, awarding them a prestigious state medal during a ceremony in Kabul on Monday.

The ceremony was attended by Afghan Education Minister Farooq Wardak; the director general of Afghan-Turkish high schools, Hikmet Çoban; and a number of Afghan deputies. Çoban was given the Sayed Jamaluddin Afghan medal, which is one of Afghanistan's most prestigious medals.

Four students from the Afghan-Turkish Girls' High School were also given gold medals for their success at the International Environmental Project Olympiad (INEPO) in Turkey.

The school's principal, Ubeydullah Dinler, and a teacher at the school, Gülbahar Dinler, were also given awards for training very successful students at their school.

Praising Turkish schools in his country, Karzai said: “Citizens of Turkey, [your country is] a sister and friend to Afghanistan. [You have helped] prepare Afghan students for international competitions by equipping [our] schools with modern and scientific equipment through undaunted efforts.”

There are currently approximately 2,600 students enrolled in eight Turkish schools in Afghanistan. The Turkish schools employ 100 Turkish and 100 Afghan teachers.

Story was published on Today's Zaman on June 10, 2009, http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=177616

British Foreign Secretary praises Turkish schools in Afghanistan

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül have discussed educational projects that Turkey has been carrying out in Afghanistan, winning the praise of the visiting official, according to information obtained from diplomatic sources.

"As you know, during the Taliban regime, girls were not allowed to attend school. Turkey has opened schools to educate these lost girls. I visited the opening of this school in Kabul, and 1,500 students will receive an education at that school," Gül said to Beckett, referring to a February visit to the Afghan Girls High School.

Beckett in turn said: "I didn't know Turkey was playing such an important role in Afghanistan. Your disclosures are very important and show Turkey's role and importance." The first Afghan-Turkish school was opened in 1996 in Afghanistan; they now number six.

Gül said Afghanistan's leader, Hamid Karzai, had demanded more schools from him as he noted that that the Turkish Armed Forces would assume command of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan for a third time.

This story was published on Today's Zaman on 28 March 2007, Wednesday, http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=106684



Gulen Schools - Greece to shut down 35 Turkish schools

World Bulletin / News

http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=72766Desk

An opposition deputy has asked the government about reported plans by neighboring Greece to shut down 35 Turkish primary schools in Western Thrace as part of its austerity measures and reforms in education.

Republican People's Party (CHP) Bursa deputy Onur Öymen submitted a question in Parliament to Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, asking what measures the government is planning to take as Turkish schools face possible closure, news reports said on Wednesday.

The Turkish media reported last week that Greek authorities have decided to close down 35 of 57 primary schools in the Western Thrace region, home to Greece's Turkish minority. The Turkish community has expressed concern over the decision.

The Turkish Education Ministry released a statement saying the decision was a disappointment as Greek authorities did not consult with the Turkish community over the closure of the schools.

Öymen asked Davutoğlu what kind of initiatives the government has undertaken against the Greek decision which he said is "against the spirit and language of the Lausanne Treaty."

The 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, one of the founding treaties of the Turkish Republic, obligates Turkey and Greece to grant and respect a broad array of rights for the Greek minority of İstanbul and the Turkish minority of Western Thrace. Such rights include equality before the law, free exercise of religion, free use of its own language, including in primary schools, and control over their own religious affairs.

The CHP deputy asked what Turkish government is planning to do if Greece does not rescind its decision.