Fethullah GUlen Movement and Charter Schools We want your soul

Fethullah Gulen web site hacked by RED HACK (kızıl hackerlar)

The website fethullahgulen.info, a page dedicated to Turkish religious leader Fethullah Gülen, has been taken down by the RedHack organization.

Members of the socialist RedHack group replaced the original contents of the website with their own emblem – a red hammer and sickle with a hand holding a computer keyboard – and a message that read "Down with the imam and his minions. Long live the revolution.”

RedHack was responsible for hacking into Ankara police's database in February, when they downloaded secret information including messages from informants and passwords to email accounts of high-ranking police officers. The incident revealed that the Turkish police used the number sequence "123456" as a password to save secret documents.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/redhack-takes-down-fethullah-gulen-website.aspx?pageID=238&nid=18371

Audit questions spending by Fulton Science Academy Fetrhullah Gulen School

Gulen Schools, Parents Across America responds

http://parentsacrossamerica.org/2012/05/paas-sharon-higgins-on-60-minutes-gulen-charter-schools-report/
Those of us who have been aware of the Gulen movement’s stealth involvement in an enormous network of publicly-funded charter schools are pleased that CBS News finally gave the situation wide national coverage. However, the 60 Minutes segment broadcast last Sunday, May 13, left out a number of important things.  [NOTE: They (and you!) should be following @CASILIPS on Twitter.]
What 60 Minutes omitted
60 Minutes should have independently verified the Harmony administrator’s claim that the chain has a waiting list of ~30,000 students. Unless such numbers can be independently verified, the waiting list figures offered by charter schools are hearsay and should be viewed as a marketing strategy.
60 Minutes should have mentioned that Gulenists are Creationists. Especially since the schools boast about providing superior science education, one is left to wonder if and how the schools provide instruction of evolution.
60 Minutes did not perform due diligence when reporting about Harmony’s test scores. The data analyses by Ed Fuller about Harmony’s high student attrition and CASILIPS about Harmony’s unimpressive comparative SAT scores (which were both available online during the show’s production) should have should have triggered the necessary skepticism!
60 Minutes did not go into the Turkish cultural instruction, a main feature of ALL Gulen movement schools and a feature which is NOT presented to authorizers in the charter school applications. For instance, why are students at the Syracuse Academy of Science Charter School taught to perform a Sufi religious ritual? Look quick (!) before the Gulenists delete this video. Scrubbing websites after revelatory material has been exposed is quite often done.
In addition, 60 Minutes should have reported some of the recent stories about other Gulen charter schools.
For instance, the charter renewal for Truebright Science Academy in Philadelphia – the school closest to Fethullah Gulen’s (former kids’ summer camp) compound in the Poconos, the Golden Generation Worship and Retreat Center – was recently rejected on several grounds, including low academic performance, lack of certified staff, and high turnover of administrators.
And Fulton Science Academy Middle School in Georgia also recently had its charter renewal rejected, along with its appeal to the state, despite having been recognized as a Blue Ribbon Award-winning school. A number of serious concerns had been noted having to do with shadowy governance, conflicts of interest, multiple failures of compliance, and six-million dollars of missing bond money. As the director of the state’s Charter Schools Division wrote: “In fact, the deeper we dug through all the materials FSA submitted… the more questions we had and the more we realized the depth and breadth of the reasons FCS [Fulton County Schools] could have denied FSAMS.”
Then there were the stories about the two Gulen charter schools in Louisiana. Last summer, one school had its charter revoked (Abramson Science and Technology School) for numerous complaints including the attempted bribe of a public official, failure to report sexual incidents, teachers completing student science projects, withholding resources from special ed students, and more. Complaints were also made about the other school (Kenilworth Science and Technology Charter School) having a high number of uncertified teachers, poor handling of special education, and even the existence of a “prayer room” at the school. Both of these schools (along with Gulen charter schools in Arkansas, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, plus the School of Science and Technology schools in TX — all states in which the Gulen movement calls its South-Central region) are operated in partnership with the Cosmos Foundation, operator of the Texas Harmony schools featured on 60 Minutes.
Fethullah Gulen’s lame excuse for self-exile Sorry but I (a former critical care R.N.) do not buy Fethullah Gulen’s excuse for needing to be in the U.S. year after year for medical treatment. His supposed diabetes, heart and kidney problems are not rare conditions. Rather they are extremely common ailments which could be treated by plenty of doctors in Turkey who are currently managing thousands of patients with similar diagnoses. Istanbul, for instance, has a Gulen movement-associated center which provides the most advanced medical treatment for Mr. Gulen’s type of ailments.
Besides, Saylorsburg, the location of Gulen’s compound in the Poconos (the mountain forest of northeastern Pennsylvania) is not exactly known for its close proximity to a world renowned medical center for patients who have, as Mr. Gulen is portrayed, exceptional needs.
Spokesman Alp Aslandogan
Alp Aslandogan (full name Yuksel Alp Aslandogan) seems to have been made the movement’s spokesperson for U.S. audiences. Aslandogan must be fairly high up in the Gulen movement’s hierarchical brotherhood and is not just any “businessman” as 60 Minutes stated.
In 1999, Aslandogan, Harun H. Solak , Zekeriya Baskal, Ahmet H. Aydilek and Melen M. Dogan submitted an application to Milwaukee Public Schools for the Wisconsin Career Academy. This charter school was approved and has been operating since 2000, but this year the Milwaukee School Board voted to end its agreement with WCA. The school is in the process of changing into a private school (Wisconsin College Preparatory Academy) so it can tap U.S. tax dollars via the Milwaukee Parental Choice voucher program.
Aslandogan is the president of the Institute of Interfaith Dialog (a classic Gulenist “dialog” organization) as well as a director of Texas Gulf Institute, a Gulenist college now called North American College. Why Aslandogan may have created the alias “Yuksel A. Conger” at one point is not known.
Aslandogan appeared at an event called “The Gulen Movement” which was sponsored by the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington D.C. in June 2009. He also appeared at an event with Joshua D. Hendrick at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in December 2010 (“Transnational Religious Nationalism in the New Turkey: The Case of Fethullah Gulen.”) Audio and video presentations and accompanying text are available online.
Much more needs to be exposed
There is a long list of highly concerning things about the Gulen movement that 60 Minutes didn’t expose, like its “strategy of seduction” of parents and public officials, their free/inexpensive stealth propaganda trips to Turkey, their building of madrassas and mosques in Albania and South Africa, etc.
The bottom line for me is that NOTHING about the Gulen movement or their schools can be trusted. Watch this video if you want to hear me go into it more (filmed on Saturday, May 12, one day before the 60 Minutes broadcast).

 

 

Sibel Edmonds & Parent from Gulen Charter School Boiling Frogs Radio

One of the many parents of ex-students of a "Gulen Inspired" charter school with Sibel Edmonds, the former FBI Turkish Translator turned whistleblower.  

Fethullah Gulen Followers are Censoring News Video and more from You Tube

SOMALİA MOGADISHU MUQDISHO TURKISH SCHOOL, Turkish politics in Somalia failing?

ISTANBUL, Turkey May 27 2012 (Garowe Online) – Puntland and Galmudug have withdrew from the upcoming Istanbul conference at the end of the month sighting that it is not a Somali-owned process, Garowe Online reports.

Both Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole and Galmudug President Mohamed Ahmed Alim signed a joint press statement on Sunday cancelling their participation to the Istanbul conference on May 31 saying that the conference is "politically motivated".

In the joint press statement both governments said that after much consideration they realize that that the “Turkish role in Somalia objects to consulting the Somali people”. According to the statement the Turkish role is also misbalanced and not transparent enough.

The statement also says that the Turkish government sidestepped regional governments and institutions and invited civil society groups from Somalia to a conference in the Turkish capital.

According to the statement the purpose of the conference was “ambiguous”, and leaders from the TFG and regional states did not know the intentions of the conference, that will be attended by UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon and officials from the African Union.  

A centralized Somalia

Government officials who spoke to Garowe Online said that the actions of the Turkish government have given the impression that Turkey is in favor of a centralized Somalia. This has upset officials who thought Turkey was committed to the current roadmap in Somalia.

Last month Turkey’s Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Selcuk Unal said that the Turkish government had a four step approach for Somalia that included assisting the UN backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia to reach a democratic agreement.

Earlier this week, signatories of the previous agreements, with the international community watching closely wrapped up a meeting in Addis Ababa where issues regarding the Roadmap and the constitution were deliberated over. After amendments to the Somalia draft constitution were made and mandates were clarified, an agreement was signed.

In Sunday’s press statement Puntland and Galmudug leaders said that the Istanbul meeting defied all previous agreements signed by leaders from the TFG, Puntland, Galmudug and Ahlu Sunnah. According to the officials the upcoming meeting tried to limit authority of regional governments and was anti federalism.  

Funding to Somalia?

Over the past year Turkey’s government has been trying to play a greater role in Somalia. It established an embassy in Somalia and regular flights to the war-torn capital Mogadishu.

Funding has increased significantly to Somalia with the Turkish government giving close to 400 million dollars in assistance to Somalia over the past year. The Turkish government also promised dozens of development projects for Somalia including hospitals, schools, scholarships, and infrastructure.

However officials in Galmudug and Puntland say that tangible development projects from Turkey have not reached their constituents. Puntland officials say that Turkish funds are being deposited into the central government based in Mogadishu and regions across Somalia have seen little to nothing.

Turkey has visited Puntland and Galmudug and has promised Puntland developmental projects targeting infrastructure and promised to reconstruct roads but according to officials, nothing has transpired.

Compromise with Al Shabaab

Last April, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that his government has not given up on pushing for talks between Al Shabaab and the TFG. The Minister said that he felt that a peaceful resolution could be reached and that Turkey could play a role in arbitrating that agreement.

“Despite our advantage and special relation with Somalis of all stripes, Turkey would play a role in mediating conflicting parties in Somalia," said Minister Ahmet last April to Turkish radio station.

Even after Al Shabaab officially joined the terror network of Al Qaeda, Turkey has pushed for a peaceful resolution. The proposal the Turkish government has been driving conflicts with the international community’s policy of no dialogue with terrorist organizations.

Leaders have urged Al Shabaab to put down their weapons and turn themselves into government authorities, but neither the TFG nor regional governments have proposed talks with the terror group.

Turkey denies any ulterior motives in Somalia and maintains that facilitating peace to the war ravaged country is its number one foreign policy.

Minister Ahmet reiterated on Sunday at the Somali civil meeting in Istanbul, that Turkey’s policy in Somalia is to promote stability both economically and politically. But Puntland and Galmudug governments say that that policy contrasts with what the conference in Istanbul proposes.

http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/Somalia_27/Puntland_and_Galmudug.shtml