The news channels report that there is a military coup underway in Turkey.
The prime minister accuses Fetullah Gulen of staging the coup “from Pennsylvania.”
Gulen sponsors one of the biggest charter chains in the U.S. and is one of the biggest recipients of HB-1 visas for Turkish teachers to staff his charter schools.
One report:
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Friday evening that an attempted military coup was underway. In Istanbul, bridges were immediately blocked and jets were flying low above the capital city of Ankara. Reports indicated that Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube were shut down in the country. Turkish TV showed footage of military tanks at Istanbul’s Atatürk International Airport, where suicide bombers killed more than 40 people last month. Additionally, gunfire was reportedly heard in Ankara.The Turkish Army said in a statement that it had taken over the government, however that does not mean the entire military participated in the coup attempt. “Turkish Armed Forces have completely taken over the administration of the country to reinstate constitutional order, human rights and freedoms, the rule of law and general security that was damaged,” the army said. “All international agreements are still valid. We hope that all of our good relationships with with all countries will continue.”The Turkish government denies those claims. Turkey’s justice minister says followers of a U.S. imam, Fethullah Gulen, are staging the coup. U.S. military officials seemed as surprised by the actions of their NATO partners as everyone else. A defense official told The Daily Beast: “We are watching events on television just like you are.”
Erdogan believes that the Gulenists are behind the coup.
Who knew that “public schools” would be backers of a coup in Turkey, a key ally?
If Gulen takes over in Turkey, can U.S. citizens have their schools back?
Tangentially- Jeff Bryant reports, at Campaign for America’s Future, that the only amendment introduced to the DNC platform, that didn’t pass unanimously was related to charter schools. I’d like to know who voted against the amendment and who appointed that person/persons to the committee.
The Strange Case of Caprice Young & the Imam Fetullah Gulen
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
Caprice Young is the CEO of the Magnolia Schools charter chain here in California, which are allegedly under the control of an Islamic cleric in exile in Pennsylvania, the Imam Fetulleh Gulen.
In that position, Young has always steadfastly denied any connection of the Magnolia Charter schools, or of herself to the either the Islamic political-religious Gulen Movement operating in Turkey and in the United States, or any ties to to its Islamic cleric leader, the Imam Fetullah Gulen living in the U.S. in exile, or to any internal matters in the country of Turkey.
————————–
“I haven’t seen a connection (between the Magnolia schools and Gulen / Turkey),” she (Caprice Young) said.
————————–
For that quote, go here:
http://laschoolreport.com/new-chief-of-troubled-magnolia-ive-done-this-work-before/
… or for another Gulen-connection-denying quote form Ms. Young:
————————–
“Absolutely, categorically, Magnolia has nothing to do with the Gulen movement as an institution,” said Caprice Young, Magnolia’s CEO and superintendent.
————————–
For that quote, go here:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/schools-707539-magnolia-school.html
However, as a non-Turkish American, Caprice Young sure does tweet a lot — and make a lot of public comments to the press — about about the minutiae of internal Turkish politics, even to the point of drawing a contrast between Magnolia Charter “staff” and those Turkish politicians currently in power whom Young views as not “value(ing) human rights.”
————————–
“The president of Turkey is busy shooting down Russian planes
and smuggling arms to Syria. Doesn’t he have better things to do?” Young asked rhetorically. “The members of my staff are folks who value human rights.”
————————–
For that quote, go here:
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/mar/04/magnolia-charter-schools-caprice-young/
Hmmm … a Khomeini-like Imam-in-exile (who controls over 100 U.S. charter schools, including the Magnolia schools managed by Ms. Young) , the Imam Fetullah Gulen, is attempting a coup in the country of Turkey, with the Imam Gulen’s ultimate goal to impose a brutal Islamic theocracy and dictatorship like the one imposed on neighboring Iran in 1979 … yet Ms. Young prattles on about her and her Magnolia Charter Schools’ staff’s commitment to “human rights,” in a condemnation of human rights violations of those serving in the democratically-elected government that the Imam Gulen — again, Caprice Young’s alleged boss — is now on the verge of overthrowing.
What-ever.
From the comments section on the above article:
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/mar/04/magnolia-charter-schools-caprice-young/
—————-
Tina Andres ·
CSUF, National University, UCI
“For someone who vehemently denies that her schools are even associated at all with Gulen, Young sure has quite a lot to say about Turkey.
“I suppose it is just a coincidence that the Magnolia schools hire Turkish teachers on VISAs. She literally denied any connected to Gulen charter schools in a school board meeting in CA, saying that she doesn’t know anything about it.
“The jig is up, Caprice. These schools have also charged for more for their building rents to the state of Oklahoma than they have paid.
“This (proliferation of Gulen-controlled charter schools) is a scam and it is being perpetrated in many, many states under multiple names but the connection to Gulen is very clear and easy to find.”
—————-
I agree with Ms. Andres.
… as well as with this other commenter:
——————-
Thaker Bil ·
Tucson, Arizona
“(Ms. Young stated): ‘The members of my staff are folks who value human rights.’
“Obviously Caprice Young does not keep up on current events. She is a sock puppet for the Gulen-controlled schools and repeats back like a parrot what the Imam Gulen tells her what to say. This is hardly something people that value human rights do when Gulenites ran the parallel state in Turkey. Officials under the control of the Gulen Movement regularly arrest journalists and suppresses freedom of speech
————————
Also, as a non-Muslim, Young also sure does tweet and write a lot about “Islamophobia” towards certain Turkish people currently living in the United States. (Tweets BELOW)
Given Ms. Young’s repeated and steadfast denials of any connection between the Magnolia schools and the Islamic Imam Fetullah Gulen, or with Islam, or with the country of Turkey, this tweeting of hers — and the subjects of these tweets — seems a very odd avocation on her part.
Once again, Ms. Young claims no ties or interest in the Gulen movement that originates in Turkey, but out of the 200 or so countries on Earth, she spends so much time tweeting and talking about Turkey, and Islam … more perhaps than she does about her own country of origin, or her own religious persuasion, whatever that may be …
Weird.
Here are some examples: (NOTE the picture of two Turkish politicians in this first tweet of Ms. Young’s:
https://twitter.com/capriceyoung/status/730831337804857344
————————-
Caprice Young:
“Freedom of religion is a core value in the US https://t.co/8y7BGp2qwL @magnoliascience @laschoolreport @edsourc…
————————-
Here’s more of Caprice tweeting away about Turkey and Islam:
https://twitter.com/capriceyoung/status/730822933325570048
————————-
CAPRICE YOUNG:
“Please oppose Islamophobia in all its forms.”
https://t.co/NElGJ4gKEO via @ocweekly”
————————————–
Oh, and here’s Ms. Young tweeting just yesterday, tweeting about internal Turkish politics, and its effects on Turkish people in the United States. (She’s referencing and condemning a U.S. Congressman from Texas who is calling for an investigation of the Gulen charter school conspiracy.)
https://twitter.com/capriceyoung/status/753593138762035200
——————–
CAPRICE YOUNG:
“Texas rep does bidding of Turkish Pres = US students suffer.”
State Rep Investigates Top Charters
https://trib.it/29zlq08 via @TexasTribune
——————–
Wait, Caprice.
I thought those charter schools of yours had no ties to Turkey of Gulen. Why would any such investigation be any bother to you at all or cause your “students” to “suffer” … as the claims of your schools’ connections to Turkey and the Imam Gulen are all a hoax perpetrated against your chain of charter schools? You sure are quite upset about something that you otherwise claim is a total canard.
On network T.V. this morning, an ex-state department official claimed Erdogan, is in error, in thinking Gulen has involvement in the coup plot.
Gulen is a country gentleman idling in Pennsylvania, with no interest in Turkey nor, in charter schools. I’m convinced.
Hillary Clinton Has Received Donations From Gulenists | The Daily …
dailycaller.com/…/followers-of-a-mysterious-turkish-islamic-cleric-ha…
The Daily Caller
Nov 22, 2015 – Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen is pictured at his residence in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania September 26, 2013. REUTERS/Selahattin …
Calls Grow For Hillary To Return Donations | The Daily Caller
dailycaller.com/…/islamic-cleric-may-be-laundering-taxpayer-money…
The Daily Caller
Dec 10, 2015 – A Turkish Islamic cleric with ties to Hillary Clinton has been sued in federal … The cleric, Fethullah Gulen, has lived in Pennsylvania’s Pocono …
Ties Emerge Between Clinton And Mysterious Islamic Cleric | The …
dailycaller.com/…/new-ties-emerge-between-clinton-and-mysterious-i…
The Daily Caller
3 days ago – Connections between Clinton and acolytes of the imam, Fethullah Gulen, … Cleric Have Donated Heavily To Hillary’s Campaign And Charity). Erdoğan has accused Gulen of attempting to undermine the Turkish government.
Muslim Cleric with Clinton Ties Taken to Court for False Imprisonment …
freebeacon.com/…/muslim-cleric-with-clinton-ties-taken…
The Washington Free Beacon
Dec 10, 2015 – Followers of Muslim leader accused of running cult donated up to $1 million to … Fethullah Gülen, a Muslim cleric whose movement has been described by … “Hillary Clinton is known to have attended [Gülen] events in the US, …
U.S. lawmakers got suspect Turkish campaign cash – USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/11/20/…got…/75982732/
USA Today
Nov 23, 2015 – President Obama greets guests after taking part in a town hall …. USA TODAY has identified dozens of large campaign donations … ties to a Turkish religious movement named for its founder, Fethullah Gülen. … same donors — including President Obama and Hillary Clinton — to return that money as well.
A bit of news just hit the mail box…it ameliorates a bit, Hillary’s relationship with Gulen…if any of this is true.
——————————————————
Update from Public Citizen, Inc.
Ellen,
Major breaking news:
Hillary Clinton will announce later today that within her first 30 days in office she will introduce a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.
Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down that disastrous affront to our democracy back in January 2010, Public Citizen has been leading the charge for an amendment.
You may recall that we were nearly alone, that many said it was impossible, that some wrote us off as quixotic.
But we didn’t let that deter us from the painstaking work that has turned into a historic nationwide democracy movement.
Onward,
Robert Weissman
President, Public Citizen
Here’s another pre-coup tweet from Caprice Young. In contrast to her claim that her Magnolia Science Academy Charter Schools have no connection to Turkey or to Islam, or to her alleged master, the Imam Fetulleh Gulen, Young tweets about internal affairs in Turkey — yet this time, she makes the claim that these matters “hurt” Magnolia charter schools.
How can they, if the Magnolia charters are not connected in any way to Turkey?
https://twitter.com/capriceyoung/status/742811703281229824
——
CAPRICE YOUNG:
“Unceasing Media Crackdown in Turkey; harassment of American public schools too.”
QUESTIONS: How often does the representative of a foreign government show up to testify at a local school board hearing on a charter school application? In the U.S., how many public school outreach meetings are held at a mosque?
On that score, here’s something else refuting Caprice Young and her claims that the Magnolia Science Academy charter schools that she runs are in no way connected to Islam, to the Gulenist cult, or to anything related to the country of Turkey.
At a recent hearing in Fremont, California, a representative of the government of Turkey showed up in person at a hearing held to possibly approve a proposed Magnolia Science Academy charter in Fremont. He was there to refute Young’s claims in his testimony before the Fremont School Board:
http://www.eastbaytimes.com/breaking-news/ci_29430451/turkey-wants-fremont-school-board-reject-charter-school
“John Martin of Amsterdam & Partners in Washington, D.C., also alleged that Magnolia was not factual in its application.”
Martin, the attorney representing the Republic of Turkey wondered, if the Magnolia charters truly have no connection to the Gulenists Islamic cult, why there was only one outreach meeting for a proposed Magnolia charter in Fremont, and why the-hell did that meeting take place at a mosque, “The Islamic Center of Fremont” ?
———————————
“Martin, the attorney, questioned why Magnolia has only had one local meeting, with parents at the Islamic Center of Fremont. The staff report also noted the single gathering.
” ‘Despite asserting the intent to target Latino students, its single outreach effort did not result in signatures reflecting meaningful interest in enrolling Latino students,’ the report said.”
———————————
I mean, really, was a mosque frequented by the local Turkish Moslem community the only venue available for a charter school community forum?
http://www.icfbayarea.org/
You aren’t going to find many prospective Latino students parents or families — the target community as cited in the charter application — at a place like that.
True to form, Caprice Young doubled down on her denials:
——————————
“In a bizarre twist, an attorney representing the Turkish government spoke against the Magnolia Public Schools charter application at a recent Fremont school board public hearing, saying it has ties to Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen. John Martin of Amsterdam & Partners in Washington, D.C., also alleged that Magnolia was not factual in its application. (in other words, Caprice lied. JACK)
“Magnolia’s chief executive officer (Caprice Young) called the accusations strange and baffling.
” ‘He seems to believe that we are associated with a religious group, which we are not,’ Magnolia CEO Caprice Young said at the Jan. 13 school board meeting.
” ‘We’re not affiliated with anything but educating public school students in California,’ Young said Friday.”
——————
Oh yeah? Then why was your / your school’s one and only legally required community outreach meeting held at a freakin’ mosque? During the meeting, did the participants have to periodically kneel down and bow to Mecca? WTF???!!!
With all the accusations of Islamic affiliation thrown at your schools during the last ten years, choosing to hold your meeting at a mosque seems a truly tone-deaf, and monumentally stupid move on Young’s part.
Then again, Young needed parent signatures to accompany the Magnolia charter application, and these were probably the folks in Fremont with whom the Islamic Magnolia people had some sort of a prior connection.
Oh, one more thing. The application was rejected.
You pathetic Americans don’t deserve your schools back, you need to fight for the back instead of being a bunch of cry babies who are too afraid to tell the truth. Americans have turned into jello.
Jersey Jazzman just posted some interesting stuff on Gulen:
http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2016/07/what-we-dont-know-about-gulen-linked_98.html
While the Gulen-backed Magnolia Science Academy CEO Caprice Young and other well-paid front people for the Gulen schools claim no connection to Gulen — Young “absolutely, categorically” denies any such connection — Gulen himself, when it served his purpose to remain in the United States, eagerly contradicted this.
Indeed, he, through his lawyers, cited his involvement in those same schools — again, the same involvement so vehemently denied by Young and other Gulen front people — as justification for the U.S. government allowing him to stay here.
His lawyers enthusiastically claim to Immigration authorities, “Look at what Gulen’s done for U.S. education. Let him stay!”
(From a 2011 article in the Philadelphia Inquirer (which has, over the years, done some really excellent reporting on charter schools
http://articles.philly.com/2011-03-20/news/29148147_1_gulen-schools-gulen-followers-charter-schools
This excerpt shows the Imam Fetulleh Gulen eagerly claiming credit for all those U.S.-based charter schools, to bolster his efforts to remain in the country:
————————————————-
“Fethullah Gulen is a major Islamic political figure in Turkey, but he lives in self-imposed exile in a Poconos enclave and GAINED HIS GREEN CARD BY CONVINCING A FEDERAL JUDGE in Philadelphia that HE WAS AN INFLUENTIAL EDUCATION FIGURE IN THE UNITED STATES.
“As evidence, his lawyer pointed to the charter schools, now more than 120 in 25 states, that his followers – Turkish scientists, engineers, and businessmen – have opened, including Truebright Science Academy in North Philadelphia and another charter in State College, Pa.
“The schools are funded with millions of taxpayer dollars. Truebright alone receives more than $3 million from the Philadelphia School District for its 348 pupils. Tansu Cidav, the acting chief executive officer, described it as a regular public school. [emphasis mine]”
“The national Gulen charter school network has been confirmed by Gulen’s own lawyer.”
————————————————-
Except elsewhere, when it suits Gulen and the operators of the Gulen charter schools, they claim no connection to Gulen whatsoever:
————————————————-
“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 State College school confirmed that federal authorities had interviewed her.
“Bekir Aksoy, who acts as Gulen’s spokesman, said Friday that GULEN KNEW NOTHING ABOUT CHARTER SCHOOLS or an investigation.
“Aksoy, president of the Golden Generation Worship & Retreat Center in Saylorsburg, Pa., where Gulen lives, said Gulen, who is in his early 70s, ‘HAS NO CONNECTION WITH ANY OF THE SCHOOLS,’ although he might have inspired the people who founded them.”
————————————————-
So Gulen WAS involved in founding the schools, except he WASN’T.
Errr … except he WAS … again, when it suits Gulen and the leaders, they claim the credit:
————————————-
“The (Gulen’s) American charter schools were A CENTRAL PART OF GULEN’S ARGUMENT THAT WON HIM A GREEN CARD card after the Department of Homeland Security ruled that he did not meet the qualifications of an “alien of extraordinary ability” to receive a special visa.
“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 OF AMERICA.”
“On July 16, 2008, U.S. District Court Judge Stewart Dalzell ruled that Gulen met the requirements for a green card.”
———————————————–
Except he WAS. Hmm …
Marybeth,
We’re looking to find candidates to vote for, so that the public can keep their schools. There’s a lot of money swaying media and politicians. I thought Democrats like Sen. Sherrod Brown would be the opposition to school privatizers. I was wrong.
“Turkey’s justice minister says followers of a U.S. imam, Fethullah Gulen, are staging the coup. U.S. military officials seemed as surprised by the actions of their NATO partners as everyone else. A defense official told The Daily Beast: ‘We are watching events on television just like you are.’ ”
No one pays attention to teachers anymore. Anyone who is more than a casual reader of this blog knew this was a likely outcome. And it’s done on our monies stolen from our public schools.
Be afraid for our children and the American enablers of this foreign criminal crime cartel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBxwxQ6xYRU
Nice Try Caprice but Gulen is not Islam but a criminal crime cartel CULT. Furthermore she continues to deny they are part of the Gulen Movement when it’s ON RECORD at the LAUSD that the Magnolia Science Academy has teachers who have association with the Gulen Movement. Being a Gulenists isn’t a reason they should and will close but their lousy education, financial mismanagement will be as 2 schools have closed and 8 applications in 5 districts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM2Zu_wabSs
If a link can be proven between charter money and the coup, that information needs to get out to the media that always seeks to exploit the sensational. The blowback against charters and our wasteful spending would benefit those of us that support public education. It could be very helpful to open of the can of worms about charter funding that the people need to hear. This is free publicity about the dangers to sending public money to unvetted private groups.
Unbelievable. There were rumors he was using his charter profits (even though they are non-profit wink wink) to fund political action in Turkey.
I was wondering if Gulen is behind the coup when I first heard about it. Seeing it sort of confirmed creates an odd feeling in me. Disturbing. If Gulen is behind the attacks, and our government is behind Gulen…
Bingo yet again dear Leftie…as you know, I have been writing about this scenario for over 3 years. The Turkish News Agency picked up my article, Fetullah Gulen, Phantom of the Poconos, some years ago (printed first by City Watch) and said that this was the thinking in America. Am not at all surprised by this coup, since all the anti Gulen Turks have been expecting it….and they have added comments to all my Gulen Movement articles.
Why would Bill Clinton, G.W. Bush, and Barak Obama all shelter him here and allow him to manipulate our system with his now 150 schools and his many flourishing adjunct business that supply these schools, and his importing around 3,000 Middle Eastern men on Green Cards to work for him here, if they were not playing footsie with him? Remember Allende. Remember Pinochet.
I’m looking forward to more information on this.
Then read my post above about Caprice Young. (It’s the first reply to the first post at the top of this thread.)
Jack
Have PBS or npr repoted on Gulen connection with this military action? With all the Walton money that they have been taking, their coverage of charter school problems has been lacking. They have barely covered the FBI raids on the schools an dheadquarters.
Bethany…between Jack, Julie Tran, the most informed Sharon Higgins, and even me, you have a wealth of info here.
Wish you would let us all know what you find from other sources we might all have missed. Do enlarge your research by reading all the reports at SharonHiggins.com….and also at 60 Minutes, and in all the suggested articles in the vast amount of news sources.
These reports have been available for years and the many on Gulen’s charter schools are mentioned here so often so go to Diane’s archives too. I have been writing on all this at this venue for the last three years…as have some of my colleagues. This all should catch you up.
The US has huge military bases all over Turkey & as a member of NATO has trained many of their soldiers. It seems improbable that the US upper command & the CIA had no knowledge of this coup. There were rumors of a military coup in May http://www.wsj.com/article_email/turkish-militarys-influence-rises-again-1463346285-lMyQjAxMTI2MDEzNTQxMTU2Wj
But, a former state department employee, interviewed on network T.V. this morning said that the coup sprung out of nowhere-completely grassroots. I’m convinced that no one in the administration, knows anything about Gulen, in relation to charter schools or Turkey, because there are, totally, no connections that anyone could anticipate or find if they looked.
My understanding is that during the high point of Gulen schools taking public money occurred during the time that Erdogan and Gulen were allies, and that Erdogan may have used the Gulen school money to have consolidated his power and crushed opposing factions within the military. Erdogan has gone on to become an autocrat- particularly squelching academic freedom in Turkish universities. So there are no “good guys” in the situation, and both apparently profited from our public school dollars.
This seems to be an accurate assessment, in that both Gulen and Erdogan are shady characters and we, the U.S., need to shut down those schools and carefully investigate where the money went. As a general statement, and an opinion, all charters need oversight.
Oversight is an unnecessary expense for taxpayers. Charter schools are an attractive nuisance, exploited for money, by campaign donors. Shut them down.
Ohio lawsuits, related to charters, are a costly affront, to democracy, government integrity and common goods.
The US has huge military bases all over Turkey & as a member of NATO has trained many of their soldiers. It seems improbable that the US upper command & the CIA had no knowledge of this coup. I doubt this was much of a surprise to the US & NATO allies given that there were rumors of a potential coup in May.
http://www.wsj.com/article_email/turkish-militarys-influence-rises-again-1463346285-lMyQjAxMTI2MDEzNTQxMTU2Wj
I just watched an interview with a former CIA officer on MSNBC. (I flip through the channels.) He seemed to be on the side of the coup attempt. He criticized the democratically elected government of Turkey. Harshly. He sounded emotional, not objective.
Looks like the President Erdogan will survive, which means Gulan will REALLY have to watch his back if he is even remotely connected to this.
In Pennsylvania?
hmm…. Didn’t know he was in Pennsylvania when I wrote this — but there’s always the precedent of Orlando Letelier.
Erdogan at İstanbul Airport: “This coup attempt was a result of 40 years of Gulenist infiltration”
…So it might be RIP Gulen.
Sharon Higgins and others such as Daniel Pipes have indicated repeatedly that our taxpayer funding of Gulen’s plethora of charter schools in the US has paid for much disruption in Turkey and in the Middle East, and that he has used our money to buy the Turkish military and their police in preparation for this coup. His stated goal is to be the leader of Turkey and oust Erdogan.
Both Gulen and Erdogan believe in Sharia Law and in another rising Ottoman Empire. Reports have stated that our government sees Gulen as less aggressive and easier to work with….who knows?
The CIA- never wrong.
40 years of effort and a coup quashed as if it was a mosquito? Is effectiveness, on the short list of problems, for the charter schools, if they are connected with insurgency in Turkey?
Ohio teachers raised issues at Gulen schools years ago.
http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/ex-staff-ohio-charter-school-s-misconduct-rampant-1.504845
Most interesting was the Ohio Department of Education going after the whistleblower teachers, not the schools. More than one legislator has received trips or contributions from Gulen schools.
Seems brick and mortar charters get a free pass in Ohio, especially when backed by big, out of state money.
A lot of legislators have received trips! http://turkishinvitations.weebly.com/elected-officials-who-went-on-gulenist-turkey-trips.html
Largest corporate charter school chain in U.S. tries to overthrow Turkey.
Who would believe it Robert?
But you helped educate us all as to Fetullah Gulen and the billions $$$ he has made off the American taxpayers.
So many reports have expanded your early info on this pernicious and hidden Imam that we can now comprehend how his influence and OUR money helped him pull off this coup…whether successful or not.
Thanks Robert for being my teacher and friend, early on, and always…and all of it because of this wonderful Ravitch site where so many of us have met, become friends, and coalesced in our mutual goal of saving our public schools.
I also want to thank Educator for all her early education for me. She was on this so long ago and gave many of us info years ago about the Gulen Movement in the LA schools, and the national push this dangerous Imam has managed to create to make a fortune off of us all. I have learned so much from smart and deeply dedicated folks at this site.
I had just finished reading Mercedes Schneider’s chapter on the Gulen schools when this news broke on TV. Her new book on school choice indicates that the teachers from Turkey who come here required to kickback some of the salary they earn to the Gulen movement, in one documented case 40%.
At last look on TV, the coup attempt was failing. In any case I hope that the reclusive Gulen leader, hidden away in the Poconos, becomes a subject of interest to many more investigative journalists, with the results from FBI investigations in multiple charter schools made public. The foreign nationals who can buy their way into the US to create “jobs” should not be allowed to create jobs by operating charter schools. Schneider shows that they are doing so, and then developing the ancillary services in real estate, furnishings, equipment, supplies. I am also grateful that Diane is giving this issue some attention. More bloggers need to.
Would either Diane, or any of her readership, have access to any of the MSNBC journalistic staff of Madow or Hayes, or even Brian Williams, who is currently holding forth? The almost bemused ignorance of Gulen by these people is inexcusable.
Rachel Madow will never examine this angle.
To summarize, for future headlines:
Islamist funds coup d’etat against NATO ally with profits from American public school privatization venture.
I am guessing that if a school system was administered by a local school board, instead of a recently exiled, plutocratic religious zealot, then the public school funds would not have been used to depose a democratically elected foreign government. I’m just guessing though.
I didn’t guess that my tax dollars would saddle up next to the Walton’s, to expand privatization of the most important common good, public education.
I didn’t guess that both parties, in Congress, would allow the executive branch to implement Aspen Institute (David Koch is on the board) education programs, funded by the owner of a retailer that sells schools-in-a-box. But, there you go.
Will Fetullah Gulen be charged by the Dept. of Justice with Conspiracy to Violate the Neutrality Act? https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-defendants-charged-their-role-attempted-coup-gambia
Diane, you called this over a year ago. Bravo! Now, hopefully Hillary Clinton will take a more investigative look at this charter system and, not withstanding, all charters; for profit or not.
Ed:
Do we know that Hillary did not design this .
You can take out Hillary and substitute any secretary of state back to Dulles in 1953 when we ousted Mossadegh. That worked out real well. I’m not going to even laugh at that one.
Yes Joel…it was Clinton’s husband Bill who first allowed, invited perhaps, Gulen to move to the US where he built a palace/fort completely fenced in and guarded 24/7 by armed guards in the Pocono Mtns in Pennsylvia. Why isn’t Bill Clinton reporting to the media about Gulen?
This is not new news.
The media and our leadership have long known more about all this, but have chosen NOT to report on it. I, and others, have been writing here for years about Gulen and his charter schools on a regular basis, and the LA Times reporters read this blog site daily, as do others like the Washington Post and the Boston Globe, and I know that City Watch Today is read by legislators. Many journalists and leaders have known, and know now, what Sharon Higgins, and the rest of us, have put forward about the Gulen Movement and how this secretive imam has operated for many decades.
Only the American public and some readers here are surprised at this event.
I wish some of the Turkish men who have written to me, and have posted comments on my articles, and the articles of others, would comment here. This site was where I first read their opinions on Fetullah Gulen about three years ago. So if you knowledgeable Turkish citizens are still reading this, please join in and help educate us.
Yet we keep cutting back money for classrooms, teachers, supplies …. public schools must do more with less …. Americans, whose homes are taxed specifically to fund their community public schools, should be outraged that their hard-earned dollars were diverted away from their children in order to fulfill one man’s lust for power.
Who are his enablers and why. ?!!!!!
Remember lots of elected officials have taken junkets to Turkey finaced by Gueln.
See the complete report here by Julie Tran on the Gulen junket taken by LAUSD BoE member Monica Garcia, an avid Gulen and charter school supporter. Some of us have urged her impeachment for years.
I do not know who the good guys or who the bad guys are in this one. Or if the term is even applicable when it comes to world affairs .
But you can rest assured that that as in the other coups we have seen from the Ukraine to Brazil and the on going situation in Venezuela, the gang that couldn’t shoot straight down in DC has their hands in the pie. They never are able to accurately forecast the blow back from their actions . Governments (our government)act in what they perceive to be “National Interest”. What we must always be vigilant to ask is whose interests are those.
That a Charter School movement that destroys American education could be used by the foreign policy establishment to fund policy objectives,should not shock anyone. Certainly not after they sold cocaine on the streets of American cities,to fund a war in Nicaragua.
That this foreign policy establishment should transcend both political parties should not shock anyone in the education wars.
Diane,
Why are you blocking my posts?
Dawn,
I have blocked none of your posts.
Diane,
Thank you for replying and please pardon my assumption. Perhaps it was a technical issue.
Dawn,
Long comments are often put into moderation and they don’t get posted until I approve them. I am not online 24/7, so often there is a delay.
In the most powerful and wealthy nation in the world, there are scores of thousands of parents who are so dissatisfied with their traditional public school that they’ve chosen to sent their kids to schools where huge amounts of funding may have been siphoned off to bankroll the attempted coup of a powerful NATO member state. Incredible.
You’re a hoot, Tim.
Way to make the Turkish coup the result of U.S. public education, Tim. You’re right up there with the people who blamed Eric Gardner’s death on public education, and Condoleeza Rice, who famously said that our national security is in danger because of public education.
I’ll bet that you can blame the U.S. Civil War, the fall of the Roman Empire, and the Black Death on U.S. public schools as well.
Diane and her numerous supporters say it was the charter movement that enabled and supported the coup; I say there would be no such thing as charter schools if district schools were serving students as well as the people who work in district schools say they are.
Toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe.
Tim,
You claim that I blame the charter movement for “enabling” the coup is stupid. I never said that. I never implied it. I wrote that Fethullah Gulen leads one of the biggest charter chains in the nation–about 160 schools, many with different names. CBS “60 Minutes” reported a few years back that teachers in Gulen schools allegedly kick back a large percentage of their salaries to Gulen and his movement. There are Gulen schools all over the world, but the only nation that gives public money to finance the Gulen schools is the US.
I truly don’t know what your point is other than to divert the discussion, introduce extraneous and erroneous arguments, and generally muddy the waters. Your presence on this blog is a testament to my tolerance. If you keep twisting my words as you did today, my tolerance will end.
Parents are generally “dissatisfied” with public schools for reasons other than the schools’ actual quality, Tim. There has been a TON of propaganda about “failing schools” and “failing teachers” for 30 years now. And, often, the parents choose the charters as a form of resegregation, so we are NOT looking at this from similar viewpoints.
Like all right-wing reactionaries, you seem confused Tim. First, there is no charter “movement”. There is a charter project. Note that movements happen in social contexts, project happen in corporate board rooms. The idea that public schools needed to be supplanted with highly profitable, privately managed, but publicly funded ones was hatched in foundation boardrooms, and then marketed to parents like any other successful business campaign. The manufactured consent is then used as a weapon against those that would rather not see school handed over to your rich friend. Also, could you corporatists stop using the word traditional in front of public schools? The only thing traditional about them is that they follow the tradition of public assets being under the control of the public, unlike the privately managed charter sector that you shill for.
Man up, use your whole name here. That way we’ll all know the identity of another greed motivated ideologue pushing these charters. Let’s be clear: the Gülen corporate charter chain is a symptom of the charter cancer, not the cause. The concept of contracting the private sector for something that is best handled by the community is flawed from the get-go. Time to put these greedy charter profiteers out to pasture.
LAUSD Board Member Monica Garcia, in her past elections, had her campaign bankrolled by the Gulenists — and will likely have her next campaingn bankrolled by them — so it’s interesting to watch Garcia in this two-years-old LAUSD Board meeting carrying out her Gulenist masters’ marching orders.
The beginning of this video shows what Garcia later dismissively refers to as “groups or something”, as an LAUSD lawyer (southern accent) somewhat sheepishly admits that officials and teachers in the Magnolia Science Academy Charter Schools are, in fact, Gulentist cult members. However, he also makes the incredible claim that such a connection does not rise to the level that it would mandate denying or closing any of these Magnolia Science Academy Charter Schools.
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( 00:06 – 00:23 )
( 00:06 – 00:23 )
LAUSD LAWYER: ” We have done some … uhmm … looking into that allegation, and and there is some evidence that some members of Magnolia DO HAVE TIES to the Gulen Movement, but we have not found anything, currently, that that would be grounds for denial.”
—————————————————-
Seriously, THAT’S what you think, Mr. LAUSD Lawyer? Did you get your law degree out of a Crackerjack box? What the-hell kind of legal advice is THAT?
Furthermore, the fact that these Gulen connections WERE EVEN MENTIONED in a public school board meeting enrages the Gulen-backed LAUSD Board Member Monica Garcia no end.
Later on, as soon as Garcia can get the floor, she responds with near hysterics. (at the end of those post)
To quote Shakespeare, “Me thinks the lady doth protest too much.”
Before taking that apoplectic performance in, however, you first have to understand more about the focus of Garcia’s outrage. Pursuant to that end, pay careful attention to the following exchange transcribed below.
LAUSD Board Member Bennett Kayser is asking Jose Cole-Guttierez, the the pro-charter head of LAUSD’s charter division whether or not, and why school boards in other states — and in other California districts — denied Gulen-backed charter schools — and that if part of that reason for the denials was related to the Gulen connection.
The fox in the henhouse, as it were, Cole-Guttierez disingenuously denies knowing about any Magnolia Charter School applications being denied in other states, or whether those whose charter petitions that WERE denied in California were rejected based on their connection the the Imam Fetulleh Gulen, and to the Gulen movement.
Here’s that back-and-forth:
——————————————————–
( 3:49 – 5:20 )
( 3:49 – 5:20 )
BENNETT KAYSER: “Also, from one of the public speakers, there was a mention of the (Magnolia Science Academy) CMO having applied, or having put in petitions for charter schools in some other states that have been turned down. Is that .. uhh… is that accurate information?”
JOSE COLE-GUTTIEREZ: (flustered by the question) “I can’t … speak … I don’t … from … uhh … ”
BENNETT KAYSER: “And would it be relevant information if it’s … uhh … if it’s alleged?”
JOSE COLE-GUTTIEREZ: “I’m not aware that THIS organization — the California-based Magnolia Science Academies organization — has applied out of state. I AM aware that they have applied in other parts of this state, and we have been in contact with such authorizers, but I cannot speak to out-of-state at this time.”
BENNETT KAYSER: “And the authorizers in other districts, in-state?”
JOSE COLE-GUTTIEREZ: “Yes.”
BENNETT KAYSER: “They’ve accepted or allowed the petitions? Or they’ve turned them down?”
JOSE COLE-GUTTIEREZ: “In the past, there’s been approvals. I know of one in uhhh.. in a different … uhh … county that was recently denied … for a new petition.”
BENNETT KAYSER: “And what was the basis of the denial?”
JOSE COLE-GUTTIEREZ: “I don’t have those findings committed to memory, but I do understand that some of those denials had do with the financial picture … for the school, which is one of the reasons why we have the conditions on these renewals … uhh … as stated.”
(Cole-Guttierrez knows full well that, in addition the the financial concerns, the Gulen connection was a key factor in those charter petitions being denied, but instead of mentioning them, Cole-Guttierez feigns memory loss …
“I don’t have those findings committed to memory.”
Yeah, right. That dodge sounds like something out of Watergate hearings.)
——————————————————–
As to out-of-state charter school denials, while that may be true, Cole-Guttierez knows full well that other Gulen-backed charter groups such as the Horizon Charter Schools have been denied because of their shenanigans related to their connections to Gulen, and their importing teachers from Turkey, using dubious justification for the visas used in these cases, among other reasons.
When it comes to the issue of Magnolia Charter Schools being denied by districts WITHIN California, Cole-Guttierez ducks the question of whether or not the Gulen connection played a role in the denial when he knows full well that the Gulen connection was key to the denials.
This sets the stage for Garcia’s volcanic reaction, and her dismissive, vague reference to the Gulen controversy.
” … (Magnolia charter) people are in groups (related to Gulen) or something.”
Garcia is royally pissed at the idea that any consideration should be given to any denial of a Magnolia Charter School elsewhere, or that the district should be ascertaining the reason for those denials, or that any of those reasons should be considered when deciding whether or not to approve a Magnolia charter school.
Along with the earlier admission by LAUSD’s lawyer that Magnolia officials, administrators, and teachers are, in fact, Gulenist cult members, the above back-and-forth between Cole-Guttierez and Kayser provokes Board Member Garcia to blow a gasket.
Observe the anger here.
She calls such comments of conversations “dangerous.” How dare you question Magnolia? How dare you look into any denials elsewhere or the reasons for the denials? That’s not “material” here.
————————————-
( 5:20 – 6:36 )
( 5:20 – 6:36 )
MONICA GARCIA: “Board Members, I’m just a little confused, and I’m concerned about this! So WE’VE turned down charters that other people approve, and then people … the County (BOE) approves charters that we’ve turned down! So I am uncomfortable with the notion that what is happening in other jurisdictions is material here: Number One!
“Number Two: I am also uncomfortable, Superintendent, that in every motion that comes to this board, I should ask if you believe that your team is right on the finances, or that you have neglected or denied or ignored the Inspector General’s reports to us!
“So this idea that we’re uncomfortable with something that we really aren’t clear about, but (HERE COMES HER VAGUE, DISMISSIVE GULEN REFERENCE) people are in groups or something … I think this is … in a dangerous place! I am expecting that when you bring us a recommendation, I can disagree with you, but I’m expecting that when you bring us a recommendation, the work has been done, and I am uncomfortable accepting amendments that direct you to do your work!”
—————————————-
Garcia’s in-the-heat-of-the-moment, Gulen-supporting arguments here are asinine, and in fact, would endanger children.
For example, if a charter was denied because of … say … improper response to or rampant and illegal mishandling of child abuse perpetrated by the charter school’s/charter chain’s administrators or teachers, does Garcia really think that LAUSD’s Board should be compelled to ignore such past transgressions, then go ahead and approve the charter petition anyway, and just hope for the best? (LAUSD’s insurance carrier would just love that, I’m sure.)
Of course, not. She truly blew it here.
Put simply, Garcia is under direct orders from her Gulenist masters to do her utmost so that the Gulen connection to Magnolia Science Academies be kept out of any LAUSD Board Meetings or any LAUSD documentation. If any mention does occur, she has to throw out disinformation and hysterical anger to confuse and squelch any such discussion.
Having been feted on luxury junkets to Turkey, ones paid for by the Gulenists, where she was treated with one gala luncheon and dinner after another, first class air & hotel, etc. and having her election campaigns bankrolled by the Islamic Imam Fetulleh Gulen (with campaign funding funnelled through groups that the Imam controls), Ms. Garcia’s loyalty is not to the million or so citizens and voters in the LAUSD School Board District, or to the ones who elected her and whom she represents, but instead her allegiance is to foreign Islamists who use the profits from their charter chains — profits which Garcia enables though her votes to approve those charters, and whose interests she so vehemently fights for elswhere (ABOVE) — to finance a revolution back in Turkey with … to quote Jack above … the Imam Gulen’s ultimate goal to impose a brutal Islamic theocracy and dictatorship like the one imposed on neighboring Iran in 1979.
Thank you Julie for all this excellent info. Once again, you are in the belly of the beast with real news (as you were re the Oct.29, 2013 farce at Beaudry). You are a treasure.
Between your and Jack’s and a few others brave and accurate reports, we who pay CLOSE attention know more than we can glean from the LA Times or any other professional media (which seems to be monitored at all times).
We have NO free press, only a manipulated media directed by oligarchs and the legislators who are owned by them.
This report on Monica Garcia, who I write about endlessly, is a vital eye opener. I try to stay on top of all the messes at LAUSD, but did not know any of this. Thank you brave colleague.
I would hope that all commenters here read carefully and view all videos placed here by both Julie Tran and Jack. They define so much of the problem with not only LAUSD but with the nation. These people who speak in these videos, like Zimmer, Garcia, Cole-Gutierrez, all have info which is not made public.
Diane, since Steve Zimmer (Prez of the LAUSD BoE) is your friend, and he respects you, perhaps you can interview him and get some straight answers. We in the public cannot.
Again I ask who at LAUSD (and why) chose Juan Cole-Gutierrez to be the LAUSD overseer of charter schools, when in fact he spent his career supporting and working with and for charter schools, with the CCSA, and with the notorious Clarice Young who now runs Gulen’s Magnolia Charter Schools in California? Has charterizing all our schools been a done deal for a long time, but the public is only being fed this plan in slow deadening droplets?
Michelle King should give us an answer to this question which many of us have asked board members. Surely as our new Supt. she must know the answer.
Right now, Deasy (who is shown in the videos) works for Broad full time (he used to work for Gates) and he is being investigated by the FBI and the SEC.
Board member Monica Garcia is working in tandem with charter owner Rodriguez to promote Great Public Schools Now even though Rodriguez initiated himself into his role, some say illegally, but certainly unethically, onto the BoE (funded by Broad, Waltons, and others of the oligarchs AND probably with Gulen cash as with Garcia, to replace questioning and highly intelligent incumbent, Kayser, a teacher whom you can hear speak.
I won’t belabor all the political nuances but these folks are all inter-connected and the fulcrum is the cabal of
Fetullah Gulen, along with Broad and the American billionaire oligarchs who profit off world chaos, and profiteering off all things FREE MARKET.
And yes, Joel, Gulen has shown us how to rape American taxpayers to finance revolution in Turkey. And our legislators have known all about this since 1999 when Bill Clinton let him in to our country. And yes, Hillary is involved.
Meanwhile, I predict that he LA Times will not interview Sharon Higgins on Gulen…but they will interview Ben Austin. All are bought.
Even when the LAUSD BoE voted to shut down two of the Gulen Magnolia Charter Schools, over the weekend a year ago, Turkish parents (it was reported) were able to get the judge in LA to reverse this order, saying it would be “a hardship” for their children not to have a school to attend. Some of this can be found in the archives of the LA Times.
Keeping up with all this is a full time job…so no wonder we few muckrakers are not heard. It is so complex and so EVIL that it is hard to believe…but ‘res ipsa loquitor’, the facts speak for themselves.
Thanks for being valiant. In general terms, I wish we lived in a place where evidence mattered more than payoffs.
Erdogan’s assertion that the coup attempt in Turkey was backed by Gulen may, or may not be factually correct. There are multiple anti-AK Party forces in Turkish politics. Erdogan has become increasingly authoritarian by taking over opposition newspapers and seeking to strengthen the role of the president in Turkey thereby weakening the office of the prime minister.
When the military incite coups, historically, do they eagerly turn the reins over to democratic forces?
Linda…see Egypt and the Arab Spring for your answer. As an educator of public policy, I find this an important question, but prefer you, as I insist with my university students, research the answer yourself. Critical thinking is vital in all of this.
We can see why political Common Core advocates want us all dumbed down.
I should have prefaced the question, with “Rhetorically”.
: ))) I love your rhetoric my dear colleague. Keep it coming. You keep me smiling.
Very interesting. MSNBC is talking about it right now, saying that Pres. Erdogan is blaming him for the coup. He wants the US to extradite him to Turkey.
You guys are a bunch of nuts, there’s no evidence of gulen starting the coup. Even so Gulen denied that he had anything to do with the coup, he was probably more in shock than us.
Ok when someone starts a coup they defend it, they don’t back away from it. Well what did gulen do, he backed away.
I swear to god. And charter schools what in the world does gulen “inspired” charter schools have to do with gulen. They have their own board and can operate with our without him.
Man! People are just so blind and stupid, its sad and amusing at the sane time!
Eric,
Read more about Gulen schools.
Their boards are dominated by Turkish men, as are their teaching staffs.
They are all over the world but the US is the only nation in the world that gives public funds to Gulen schools. Why are Foreign nationals controlling “public schools”?
Yes, Diane…and in Gulen’s over 2,000 world wide schools, other than those in the US, they are called madrassas and they teach the Q’uran and Sharia Law. Either Eric is on Gulen’s payroll, as are thousands in the US, or he is about the least informed person to offer his view.
Generally people distance themselves from failed coups, since there’s typically consequences for the golpistas when they fail. Had you taken the time to craft a reasonable comment, rather than engage in juvenile name calling, perhaps you would have avoided this rather embarrassing gaffe.
Are you a Gülen corporate charter chain employee Eric Arreola?
Is there other proof of the ties of the California charters other than their mtgs being held in a mosque? Many of our public Ed mtgs in rochester ny are held in a Temple – without any religious connection
Trolls be like: “please educate me on privately managed charters and the Gülen Cult, because I’m too lazy to the the research myself.”
http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2016/02/open-letter-to-dan-woods-regarding.html
Here’s a starting place with plenty of links. There is so much information about this. Please avail yourself prior to further trolling
Cullen’s connection with US charter schools was mentioned on Fareed Zakaria’s GPS.
My post should read “Gulen’s connection”