Fethullah Gulen is very close to the ruling AKP political party in Turkey. (It's no coincidence that some SSA students met President Abdullah Gul last year.)
So let’s see how “tolerant” the AKP is:
BBC News Dec 19, 2008 called “Secular Turks facing prejudice” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7792239.…
A report in Turkey has highlighted "very worrying" evidence of increased discrimination against secular Turks. The study, called "Being Different in Turkey", links this directly to the presence of the religious conservative AK Party in government. It details widespread social pressure on non-devout Muslims to attend Friday prayers, fast during the month of Ramadan or wear a headscarf. // It suggests that a government policy of making appointments to local administrations on the basis of political and religious beliefs, rather than competence, is forcing non-devout Turks to change their habits in order to protect their business or their jobs. // The AK Party has its roots in Political Islam, but has always insisted its views have changed. // The report cites page upon page of examples: non-religious nurses put on permanent night shift; landlords refusing to take female student tenants unless they wear a headscarf; secular civil servants bypassed for promotion.
“The force promoting political Islam here comes out of Turkey, the country with the closest ties to Turkmenistan. A private group led by a Turkish missionary named Fetullah Gulen has opened 14 ''Turkmen-Turk'' magnet schools in the country. The schools boast computers, teachers trained in Turkey and much better facilities than local schools.
I paid a visit to a Turkmen-Turk school in the northeastern city of Dashhowuz. // Although the schools are financed with Turkish money and students are taught mostly by Turkish teachers, classroom walls are covered with aphorisms taken from ''Ruhnama'' (albeit in English), and a shrine to the president's book takes center stage in the school's lobby. The schools also, very covertly, proselytize their version of militant Islam, which includes advocating the need for Islamic law. ''This is the one radical influence that I know about in Turkmenistan,'' says Shirin Akiner, a lecturer in Central Asian studies at the University of London.”
Note- some Sonoran Science Academy teachers or former teachers were at these schools in Turkmenistan before coming here.
"inpeaceandfriendship" says: "His movement is geared entirely towards peace, development and human rights.”
Human rights? Really?
At the closing ceremony of the Gulen Movement's Fifth Annual Turkish Language Olympics, Saparmurat Niyazov was awarded the "Ataturk Prize" for his “accomplishments” in Turkmenistan.
Look up Saparmurat Niyazov (a.k.a. “Beloved Leader Saparmurat Turkmenbashi the Great”). He was one of the world’s most repressive dictators. He renamed months of the year after members of his own family. He banned opera and ballet, and made all primary students in the country study out of his own book, “Ruhnama”. He manipulated elections, banned foreign media, destroyed the economy and health care of his country, and had opponents tortured and killed.
The Gulen Movement awarded him a prize for these “accomplishments.”
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So let’s see how “tolerant” the AKP is:
BBC News Dec 19, 2008 called “Secular Turks facing prejudice”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7792239.…
A report in Turkey has highlighted "very worrying" evidence of increased discrimination against secular Turks. The study, called "Being Different in Turkey", links this directly to the presence of the religious conservative AK Party in government. It details widespread social pressure on non-devout Muslims to attend Friday prayers, fast during the month of Ramadan or wear a headscarf. // It suggests that a government policy of making appointments to local administrations on the basis of political and religious beliefs, rather than competence, is forcing non-devout Turks to change their habits in order to protect their business or their jobs. // The AK Party has its roots in Political Islam, but has always insisted its views have changed. // The report cites page upon page of examples: non-religious nurses put on permanent night shift; landlords refusing to take female student tenants unless they wear a headscarf; secular civil servants bypassed for promotion.
“The force promoting political Islam here comes out of Turkey, the country with the closest ties to Turkmenistan. A private group led by a Turkish missionary named Fetullah Gulen has opened 14 ''Turkmen-Turk'' magnet schools in the country. The schools boast computers, teachers trained in Turkey and much better facilities than local schools.
I paid a visit to a Turkmen-Turk school in the northeastern city of Dashhowuz. // Although the schools are financed with Turkish money and students are taught mostly by Turkish teachers, classroom walls are covered with aphorisms taken from ''Ruhnama'' (albeit in English), and a shrine to the president's book takes center stage in the school's lobby. The schools also, very covertly, proselytize their version of militant Islam, which includes advocating the need for Islamic law. ''This is the one radical influence that I know about in Turkmenistan,'' says Shirin Akiner, a lecturer in Central Asian studies at the University of London.”
Note- some Sonoran Science Academy teachers or former teachers were at these schools in Turkmenistan before coming here.
Human rights? Really?
At the closing ceremony of the Gulen Movement's Fifth Annual Turkish Language Olympics, Saparmurat Niyazov was awarded the "Ataturk Prize" for his “accomplishments” in Turkmenistan.
Look up Saparmurat Niyazov (a.k.a. “Beloved Leader Saparmurat Turkmenbashi the Great”). He was one of the world’s most repressive dictators. He renamed months of the year after members of his own family. He banned opera and ballet, and made all primary students in the country study out of his own book, “Ruhnama”. He manipulated elections, banned foreign media, destroyed the economy and health care of his country, and had opponents tortured and killed.
The Gulen Movement awarded him a prize for these “accomplishments.”