FBI Launches investigation of Gulen and his movement

By Dr. Paul L. Williams —— Bio and Archives March 24, 2011

Comments | Print This | Subscribe | Email Us

Fethullah Gulen, dubbed “the most dangerous Islamist on planet earth,” is now under investigation by the F.B.I. for his network of charter schools throughout the country. The 140-plus charter schools, according to a newly released federal document, may serve as madrassahs where students are “brain-washed” to serve as proponents of the New Islamic World Order that Gulen purportedly seeks to create. The Gulen schools, which have been established in nearly every state in the union, bear such innocuous names as the Magnolia Science Academy, the Sweetwater Branch Academy, the Science Academy of Chicago, the Pioneer Charter School, the Horizon Science Academy, the Noble Academy, the Dove Science Academy, the Bluebonnet Learning Center, and the Beehive Science and Technology Academy. Gulen, who fled his native Turkey in 1998 upon being charged with seeking to overthrow the secular Turkish government, presently resides within a mountain fortress in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.

Court records show that Gulen has amassed assets in excess of $25 billion. The federal investigation, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, centers on charges that employees of the charter schools - - including the Truebright Science Academy in Philadelphia and the Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania Charter School in State College - - are required to kick-back 60% of their salaries to Gulen’s Hizmet or Service. The kick-backs are allegedly used to establish more schools - - all of which are funded by U.S. taxpayers. Truebright alone receives more than $3 million annually from the Philadelphia School District for its 348 pupils. Tansu Cidav, the acting chief executive officer, maintained that Truebright is a regular public school. "Charter schools are public schools," he said. "We follow the state curriculum." Federal officials declined to comment on the nationwide inquiry, which is being coordinated by prosecutors in Pennsylvania's Middle District in Scranton. A former leader of the parents' group at the Young Scholars school confirmed to the Inquirer that federal authorities had interviewed her. Another concern for the federal investigators is the number of H1B visas obtained by the Gulen network for militant Gulen supporters to act as teachers and administrators.

Gulen schools are among the nation's largest users of the H1B visas

Gulen schools are among the nation's largest users of the H1B visas. In 2009, the schools received government approvals for 684 visas - more than Google Inc. (440). The Harmony School, a Gulen-related institution, has applied for more H1B visas than any educational institution in the country. H1B visas are supposed to be issued to attract foreign workers with math, science, and technology skills to jobs for which there are shortages of qualified American workers. Ruth Hocker, former president of the parents' group at the Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania Charter School in State College, began to raise questions about the Gulen school in State College when popular, certified American teachers were replaced by uncertified Turkish men who often spoke limited English and were paid higher salaries. "They would tell us they couldn't find qualified American teachers," Mrs. Hocker told the Inquirer. This argument, she added, makes no sense in the hometown of Penn State University, which produces thousands of certified teachers every year in all subject areas. Other school parents have testified to the federal investigators that uncertified teachers on H1B visas are moved from one charter school to another when their "emergency" teaching credentials expire and point to a persistent pattern of sudden turnovers of Turkish business managers, administrators, and board members. A principal aim of the Gulen schools, a federal official said, is to foster political support and goodwill toward Turkey, which is governed by the Justice and Development Party (AKP), a party created by Gulen from his 45-acre estate in Pennsylvania. Students, according to sources, are “brain-washed” to support the AKP and to take part in Gulen’s grandiose plan to restore the Ottoman Empire. the pro-Islamic prime minister, whose government recently detained journalists after they alleged that Gulen followers were infiltrating security agencies.

Under the AKP, Turkey has transformed from a secular state into an Islamic country with 85,000 active mosques

Under the AKP, Turkey has transformed from a secular state into an Islamic country with 85,000 active mosques - - one for every 350- citizens - - the highest number per capita in the world, 90,000 imams, more imams than teachers and physicians - - and thousands of state-run Islamic schools. Despite the rhetoric of European Union accession, Turkey – thanks in large part to Gulen and his “moderate” Islamic movement has transferred its alliance from Europe and the United States to Russia and Iran. It has moved toward friendship with Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria and created a pervasive anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, and anti-America animus throughout the populace. In a related investigation of the Gulen U.S. schools, state auditors in Ohio have discovered that a number of schools had "illegally expended" public funding to pay legal, immigration, and air-travel fees for nonemployees and retained teachers who lacked proper licenses. Audited records from the Horizon Science Academy in Cincinnati in May 2009 also say that "for the period of time under audit, 47 percent (nine of 19) of the school's teachers were not properly licensed." The same records show that the founder of Horizon Cincinnati was listed as the CEO of the school's management firm and as president of the school's property owner. The American charter schools were an integral part of Gulen's legal argument that won him a special permanent residency visa as an "alien of extraordinary ability,” despite the fact that the Turkish pasha lacks a high school diploma In a lawsuit Gulen filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia in 2007 challenging the denial, his attorneys wrote: "In his position as the founder and head of the Gulen Movement, Mr. Gulen has overseen the establishment of a conglomeration of schools throughout the world, in Europe, Central Asia, and the United States." His attorneys also referred to a letter of support from a theology professor in Illinois who described Gulen as "a leader of award-winning schools for underserved children around the world, including many schools in the major cities in America." Gulen, in other to ward off investigators, now insists that neither he nor his movement have an affiliation with the charter schools. The investigation of Gulen was prompted, in part, by reports from this reporter that appeared on Canada Free Press. In response to the reports, Gulen’s followers have established a website called the Goose Network which depicts this reporter as Adolph Hitler. Wonder how Gulen amassed more than $25 billion in assets and who is really behind his effort to create a New Islamic World Order? Stay tuned.