"The largest charter chain in the United States is associated in some way or another with the Gulen movement."
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12/19/14, "Turkish court issues arrest warrant for U.S.-based Erdogan rival, media reports," Reuters, Istanbul, by Ece Toksabay, Ayla Jean Yackley
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| Imam Gulen in Pa. |
The warrant takes Erdogan's campaign to root out Gulen supporters, including purges of the judiciary and police, to the international arena potentially testing strained relations with Washington. Newspapers said a prosecutor, filing for the warrant, accused him of leading a terrorist gang.
Gulen has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999. He was a close ally of Erdogan in the early years after his ruling AK Party took power in 2002 but has been in open conflict with him since a graft investigation emerged a year ago targeting the then-prime minister's inner circle.
Erdogan portrays the investigation as part of a coup attempt and describes Gulen's followers as traitors and terrorists - all charges that Gulen, who runs a vast network of schools and business enterprises in Turkey and abroad, denies.
Officials at Gulen's headquarters in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, a complex set in woodland, were not immediately available for comment. But Alp Aslandogan, a New York-based Turkish academic and close associate of Gulen, described the accusations against him as ludicrous.
“It’s not a surprise except in the sense of how low the Erdogan regime will go for the sake of absolute power and intimidation,” Aslandogan said.
Courts have dropped the corruption cases, critics at home and in the West citing that as evidence Erdogan is stripping the judiciary of its independence.
In his request for a warrant, the prosecutor accused Gulen of heading a criminal gang. The charges include operating an armed terror group, which carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison, media including Aksam newspaper said.
"These days it is very easy to be called a traitor," said Abdulhamit Bilici of Zaman, a newspaper close to Gulen's movement.
Ankara can now apply to Washington for Gulen's extradition, with no guarantee of success. Erdogan's image in the West, once that of a moderate reformer, has been eroded as his open intolerance of opposition and of criticism has grown.
A court remanded Hidayet Karaca, who heads Samanyolu Television which is close to Gulen, and three other people in custody on accusations of belonging to a terrorist group.
The European Union, which Turkey is seeking to join, said last weekend's police raids on media workers violated European values. Erdogan told the bloc to mind its own business."
Image: "Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen is pictured
at his residence in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania September 24, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Selahattin Sevi/Zaman Daily via Cihan News Agency"
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10/6/13, "Charter schools use Turkish ties, visas to get teachers," Cincinnati Enquirer, James Pilcher
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10/14/13, "Concept Schools in Ohio Import Large Numbers of Turkish Teachers for Gulen Schools," by Diane Ravitch, dianeravitch.net
"The largest charter chain in the United States is associated in some way or another with the Gulen movement. This is a political movement in Turkey whose leader is an imam who lives in seclusion in Pennsylvania. No one quite knows why a Turkish imam has some unspecified connection with 150 charter schools. What a country this is! What other country would pay millions of taxpayer dollars to a large chain of schools operated by foreign nationals?
James Pilcher of the Cincinnati Enquirer observed that the Concept charter schools hire an unusual number of Turkish teachers.
“Horizon Science Academy in Bond Hill has the usual classrooms, books and lessons to teach kids seeking an alternative to regular public and private schools.
“The charter school also employs seven foreign teachers, mostly from Turkey, brought to the U.S. on H-1B visas for jobs it says Ohio teachers are unqualified to fill.
“Concept Schools, founded by followers of a Turkish Islamic cleric secluded in the Poconos, already is under federal and state scrutiny for possible irregularities in teacher licensing, testing and technology contracts.
“An Enquirer investigation has found that Chicago-based Concept Schools, which runs Horizon and 17 other charter schools in Ohio, annually imports dozens of foreign teachers in numbers that far surpass any other school system in the state.
“At least 474 foreign teachers, again mostly from Turkey, have arrived at Concept’s Ohio schools between 2005 and 2013. The schools are collecting about $45 million in state funds annually to educate 6,600 children in kindergarten through high school.
10/6/13, "Charter schools use Turkish ties, visas to get teachers," Cincinnati Enquirer, James Pilcher
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10/14/13, "Concept Schools in Ohio Import Large Numbers of Turkish Teachers for Gulen Schools," by Diane Ravitch, dianeravitch.net
"The largest charter chain in the United States is associated in some way or another with the Gulen movement. This is a political movement in Turkey whose leader is an imam who lives in seclusion in Pennsylvania. No one quite knows why a Turkish imam has some unspecified connection with 150 charter schools. What a country this is! What other country would pay millions of taxpayer dollars to a large chain of schools operated by foreign nationals?
James Pilcher of the Cincinnati Enquirer observed that the Concept charter schools hire an unusual number of Turkish teachers.
“Horizon Science Academy in Bond Hill has the usual classrooms, books and lessons to teach kids seeking an alternative to regular public and private schools.
“The charter school also employs seven foreign teachers, mostly from Turkey, brought to the U.S. on H-1B visas for jobs it says Ohio teachers are unqualified to fill.
“Concept Schools, founded by followers of a Turkish Islamic cleric secluded in the Poconos, already is under federal and state scrutiny for possible irregularities in teacher licensing, testing and technology contracts.
“An Enquirer investigation has found that Chicago-based Concept Schools, which runs Horizon and 17 other charter schools in Ohio, annually imports dozens of foreign teachers in numbers that far surpass any other school system in the state.
“At least 474 foreign teachers, again mostly from Turkey, have arrived at Concept’s Ohio schools between 2005 and 2013. The schools are collecting about $45 million in state funds annually to educate 6,600 children in kindergarten through high school.
“Critics say H-1B visas were designed to help companies temporarily employ highly skilled foreign workers in biotechnology, chemistry, engineering and other specialized fields – not K-12 teachers.
“The Ohio Department of Education is weighing complaints from former Concept staffers that unlicensed, foreign teachers were used.
“Ohio teachers, meanwhile, say plenty of qualified teachers are available for jobs being filled by the foreigners, especially since about 40,000 are still without teaching jobs because of the recession….
“Academically, Concept students perform no better or worse than children at the nearly 300 other charter schools in Ohio.
“Ten of the Ohio Concept schools – more than half – received Ds on the state’s most recent performance index, a measure of how many students passed key achievement tests.
“Horizon Science Academy was one of the schools getting a D….”
“In May and June, the FBI raided 19 Concept charter schools, offices and other businesses in at least four states, including the Cincinnati Horizon and three other schools in Ohio. The raids came as part of a multistate investigation into possible financial fraud involving a federal Internet technology-funding program.
“Ohio education officials, meanwhile, are weighing whether to launch a full-scale investigation into whether Concept Schools is using unlicensed foreign teachers. At a state hearing in Columbus in July, several former Concept teachers complained that some Turkish teachers were working without the required licenses….
“One former teacher at a Cleveland Concept school, however, has said he was forced to pay tributes under the table to the movement and was even required to visit Gulen at his residence in the Poconos in northeast Pennsylvania. Mustafa Emanet told The Enquirer of being required to pay back some of his salary in cash to school administrators during his stay between 2006-09.
“Emanet was hired on an H-1B visa as an IT network administrator. But after he arrived, he said he was presented with a “secret” contract that required a tribute to the Gulen movement.
“He said his initial H-1B visa called for him to be paid about $44,000 annually. When he arrived, he was told he would be making less than $30,000 a year.
“Later as his pay rose, he said he was required to give up to 10 percent of his salary back to school administrators in cash as a “himmet,” or a tribute to Gulen and the overall movement.
“It got to the point where I was paying $900 to $1,000 a month,” said Emanet, who eventually got his green card and is now a software developer in the Cleveland area.
“Ucan dismissed Emanet’s claims as being from a “former disgruntled employee” and says there is no such pressure or secret contracts or tributes at any of the company’s schools….
“Concept has become the fastest-growing charter school operator in Ohio – growing to 18 schools from only two a decade ago. In the 2012-13 school year, Concept schools enrolled 6,329 Ohio students in kindergarten through high school, drawing about $45 million in state funding a year. Overall, it operates 31 schools in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Missouri.
“Concept also is Ohio’s second-largest charter school operator, trailing only Akron-based White Hat Management. White Hat operates 29 schools in Ohio with an enrollment of 6,660 in the 2012-13 school year. That company received $53.2 million in public funding that year…..”"
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Among comments to Diane Ravitch post, don't count on Republicans or Kasich to do anything about this:
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"Linda October 14, 2014 at 2:49 pm
One thing is for sure, there will be no accountability for charter spending if Republicans are elected as a majority in the state senate and house and if Kasich is reelected."
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10/6/14, "Charter schools use Turkish ties, visas to get teachers," Cincinnati Enquirer, James Pilcher
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