Corrupt Politicians and Tools of the Gulen Movement
Disclaimer: if some videos are disabled this is the work of the Gulen censorship which has filed fake copyright infringement complaints to UTUBE.
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Horizon Parents Truth: Gulen Chicago corruption exposed by Chicago Sun Ti...
Horizon Parents Truth: Gulen Chicago corruption exposed by Chicago Sun Ti...: House Speaker and state Democratic Party chair Michael Madigan (left) shakes hands with Mustafa Demir, the mayor of Fatih district in Tur...
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Gulen political contributions from Turquoise Council Kemal Oksuz linked to FBI raid at Gulen School in Louisana
http://turkishinvitations.weebly.com/is-the-turquoise-council-the-paid-lobbying-firm-of-azerbaijans-government.html
The Louisiana Connection And Wednesday’s FBI Raid One recurring theme in all Gulenist schools is their use of the H1-B visa program to import male teachers from Turkey to teach at the schools. This activity has gotten the movement accused of discrimination, and worse. In many cases American teachers have lost out on jobs, only to find out that the Turkish aliens brought in to teach in their place could barely speak English. Further, allegations have been made that what’s really going on with all the H1-B visa recipients brought in as teachers in Gulen schools is an intricate fleecing of taxpayers, which works like this: the going rate for charter school teachers in a given community might be, for example, $40,000 – and the state funding for a charter school would reflect salaries of that size. But in Turkey, a $40,000 salary would be considered a king’s ransom – per capita income in that country was just $15,200 last year. Therefore, the Gulen schools won’t encounter much resistance when it tells teachers it offers to import from Turkey that they’ll have to kick back a huge portion of their taxpayer-funded income to the Gulen movement – and thus that’s exactly, it’s alleged, what happens.
This caught the attention of State Representative Cameron Henry in the 2013 legislative session when he filed a bill that would have limited the number of employees hired by Louisiana state-funded charter schools who were in the country on H1-B visas. Henry’s legislation would have gotten right to the heart of the matter – with a very reasonable restriction that no more than 3.5 percent of the school’s employees be H1-B visa recipients (or 1 in 29), and that the people or groups submitting requests to start charter schools be American citizens. Unfortunately, Henry’s bill hit hard where it hurt for some powerful, politically connected people in Louisiana. It seems that the number one donor to the Louisiana Republican Party in 2012 was none other than a Gulenist organization out of Texas. Kemal Oksuz, president of the Turquoise Council, a Texas-based group closely related to the Gulenist movement and the Harmony charter schools in that state, donated $83,000 to the state GOP, making him its largest donor during 2012. I am not making an accusation that this donation bought the Gulen movement any special treatment by the state GOP, or the Jindal administration. In fact, members of that administration told supporters of the Henry bill that they were in favor of it. But the charter school industry itself, which has stood by silently as this foreign influence in US education spawns scandal after scandal, didn’t share that position.
In Louisiana the industry went even further, defending Kenilworth and Pelican despite the prior scandal involving Abramson. This took the form of hiring high-priced, politically-connected lobbyists to label Henry’s bill “racist” and “xenophobic.” And the bill was killed in the House Education Committee after a host of parents with children in charter schools testified against it. This followed an interesting bit of romance the Gulen movement attempted within the state legislature the Hayride was able to expose. It’s worth mentioning that the Executive Director of the Louisiana Charter Schools Association is Caroline Roemer Shirley, the daughter of the former governor. Shirley’s brother is Chas Roemer – the president of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Earlier this year, BESE granted a five-year extension of Kenilworth’s charter – a decision which, in light of the FBI’s visit to the school on Wednesday, doesn’t look like the wisest BESE could have made.
The question is, does the charter school industry know about all of these disturbing details surrounding the Gulenist movement and its charter schools and choose to look the other way, or are they simply ignorant as to the facts? With the FBI raid a new chapter in this saga has opened in Louisiana – and the charter school industry and lobbyists won’t be able to run interference for the Islamists any more. For many of us who are in favor of school choice and charter schools, the Kenilworth-Gulen debacle is a disaster on two levels: first, granting charters and dispensing taxpayer dollars to an Islamist movement with such a shady history is outrageous and dangerous in its own right. And second, there will be real damage from this scandal – damage those who are comfortable trapping disadvantaged children in lousy public schools will use to their advantage. - See more at: http://thehayride.com/2013/12/holton-maybe-now-theyll-pay-attention-to-the-gulen-schools/#sthash.J1olEoNy.dpuf
Monday, November 18, 2013
Gulen's Turkish Culture Center Honors Maine Governor Paul LePage, but NO SCHOOL APPROVED.
Speakers point to business and
education ties and potential as the governor and two others receive awards.
By
Noel K.
Gallagher ngallagher@pressherald.com
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
SOUTH PORTLAND — To expand its economy, Maine must welcome more immigrants,
Gov. Paul LePage said Tuesday, praising a new Turkish cultural organization for
its work in the state.
Gov.
Paul LePage gives a speech at the Sable Oaks Marriott in South Portland Tuesday
after accepting a leadership award.
Gabe
Souza/Staff Photographer
Eyup
Sener, left, president of the Turkish Cultural Center Maine, presents Gov. Paul
LePage with a traditional Turkish plate after LePage was honored with a
leadership award at an annual Friendship Dinner held by the Turkish Cultural
Center at the Sable Oaks Marriott in South Portland Tuesday.
Gabe
Souza/Staff Photographer
“It’s time that we here in Maine appreciate
and work with other countries to improve our economy,” LePage said as he
accepted a leadership award from the Turkish Cultural Center Maine at its first
Friendship Dinner, at the Portland Marriott at Sable Oaks.
“It’s important for Maine
to grow,” the governor said. “We need to invite (immigrants) to come and live
among us.”
Also honored were
University of Maine professor Habib Dagher, who heads the school’s Offshore
Wind Laboratory, and Maine Deputy Attorney General and Augusta Mayor William
Stokes.
“We strongly believe that
the friendship and alliance between the United States and Turkey will
significantly contribute to the global peace,” said Eyup Sener, president of
the Turkish Cultural Center Maine and the New England director of the Council
of Turkic American Associations.
The Turkish Cultural
Center has existed for only about two years, he said. About 300 people from
Turkey are living in Maine, although if Turkic people from many countries in
southeastern Europe are counted, that number climbs to about 2,500, Sener said.
Turkey is Maine’s
11th-largest international export destination. According to a U.S. Census
report, $11 million worth of goods, ranging from dairy cattle to wood products,
were shipped from Maine to Turkey in 2010 to 2011.
Several speakers at
Tuesday’s event emphasized the potential for business and educational ties,
while spreading a message of peace. Stokes said Augusta is in the final stages
of establishing a sister-city relationship with Uskudar, a section or borough of
Istanbul.
Several state legislators
who attended the dinner have gone on one of the three trips the Turkish
Cultural Center has organized for lawmakers to visit Turkey. There also are
educational ties between Maine and Turkey.
Sener said his group
organized a trip to Turkey this summer for officials from the University of
Maine System, and an educational exchange agreement has been signed with
officials at the University of Maine at Augusta.
At the K-12 level, a
Turkish group is trying to open a charter school in Maine. It would be part of
a network of 800 schools operated internationally by followers of a Turkish
imam, Fethullah Gulen. The group’s application for a charter school in Bangor
was denied in early 2013, and the group has applied again this fall, for a
school in the Lewiston area.
Followers of Gulen, who
lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, have been involved in starting at
least 120 charter schools in 26 states, according to investigations by The New
York Times, “60 Minutes,” USA Today and other news organizations. The schools
are often top performers and have an entirely secular curriculum, but they have
drawn criticism for their lack of transparency, their hiring and financial
practices and concerns about their motivation, which experts say has as much to
do with shaping the evolution of Turkey as it does with educating young
Americans.
A short film on Gulen and
his mission was shown at Tuesday’s dinner.
A key organization in
Gulen’s network, the New York-based Council of Turkic American Associations,
arranged for the Maine legislators’ subsidized trips to Turkey and asked Le-
Page to issue an executive order declaring April 3, 2012, the first Turkish
Cultural Day in Maine.
Last summer, state Sen.
Roger Katz, R-Augusta, Rep. Karen Kusiak, D-Fairfield, and Rep. Dennis Keschl,
R-Belgrade, visited Turkey. The three comprise the advisory board for the
Turkish Cultural Center Maine.
Katz said Tuesday that he
hopes Maine can attract Turkish students to the state university system. He
noted that Maine has an aging population that is not very diverse.
“The only way to change
that is to become a place that welcomes everyone,” he said.
Senate President Justin
Alfond, D-Portland, also said he hopes the ties to Turkey will stimulate trade.
“Maine must be more
welcoming,” he said. “There’s no doubt that Maine’s future rests on
in-migration.”
Keschl also went on a trip
in 2012, along with Sen. Joseph Brannigan, D-Portland; Rep. Jane Knapp,
R-Gorham; and Rachel Talbot Ross, president of the NAACP’s Portland branch.
Keschl has said that officials from the Council of Turkic American Associations
were up front about their ties to Gulen when he questioned them directly.
The council is the
regional affiliate of the Washington, D.C.-based Turkic American Alliance, the
umbrella organization for the Gulen movement in the United States.
Noel K. Gallagher can be
contacted at 791-6387 or at:ngallagher@pressherald.com
Were you interviewed for this story? If so, please fill out our accuracy
form
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
North Dakota Lawmakers on free Trip to Turkey get more than they bargain for with Turkish demonstrators MORE GULEN BRIBES
North Dakota legislators get more than they bargained for
The Gulen lobbying
force is working in overdrive, drumming up as many easily bought off American
politicians as they can find for summer trips to Turkey. The latest pilgrims to
make headlines are a group of seven freeloading legislators from North Dakota.
Apparently, like the group from Michigan, this collection of political tourists
got caught in the Turkish protests while riding a bus into the eye of the
anti-government protests. But this time the protesters got a little more up
close and personal with the Americans than their predecessors.
According to North Dakota Representative Corey Mock, the bus trip was a little like an amusement park roller coaster complete with sticks, mallets, rocks – and of course threatening protesters. The protesters attacked the bus, rocking it while trying to pry open the windows. I suspect that this wet your pants change in the itinerary might have given the politicians time to pause about their decision to sign up for a trip on the Gulen express.
One politician on the bus, Rep. Corey Mock (D-Grand Forks), was quoted as saying, “As the bus pulled away, there was nothing but disbelief.” I get the “disbelief” component – but on my end its disbelief on how incredibly naïve and shameful these political parasites are. Instead of merely planting their butts on a bus tour sponsored by Gulen, they might done a bit of pre-trip research on Gulen’s cult, its insidious movement, and how their tourist trip plays perfectly into Gulen’s master plan to further corrupt the American government by proxy of its campaign contributions and “free trips to Turkey.”
The bus rock and rollers on the trip were Rep. Corey Mock (D-Grand Forks), Rep. Ben Hanson (D-West Fargo), Rep. Lawrence Klemin (R-Bismarck), Rep. Lois Delmore (D-Grand Forks), Sen. Phil Murphy (D-Portland), Sen. Ray Holmberg (R-Grand Forks), and Sen. David O’Connell (D-Lansford). That’s an awful lot of state politicians on a bus tour in Turkey -- politicians who should have instead been in their offices in North Dakota doing the jobs that their constituents were paying them to do. I wonder how thrilled the taxpayers in North Dakota would be if they knew that the politicians that they voted for were too busy indulging in Gulen-related propaganda in Turkey to actually perform their North Dakota legislative duties.
It get’s more than tiresome to hear about how American politicians have this deep-rooted desire to establish “friendly” relations with Turkey by means of free trips, sponsored by Gulen’s cronies. I wonder why they feel the need to visit Turkey -- why not take a few trips to Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, or North Korea --- where there just might be a more compelling case for “friendship?” While these guys and gals are stuffing their faces with free baklava in Turkey, there are certainly more relevant and exponential world issues that more directly affect their constituents at home – like American soldiers coming home from the Middle East missing both limbs and livelihoods.
Call me old fashioned, but I am of the mind that you take care of your own before you spread your resources and goodwill to causes (and in this specific case, the Gulenists), that are only out to exploit and manipulate the United States’ taxpayers. How many rocking buses pelted with sticks and stones do the American politicians needs to experience before the finally figure out that they are being played like a keman, and that the Gulenists are the ones fine-tuning the politicians' strings.
Below are a couple of stories about the North Dakota legislators’ trip to Turkey:
http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/north-dakota-legislators-took-trip-paid-for-by-turkish-group-described-as-cult
North Dakota Legislative Trip Paid For By Controversial Islamic Group
Written By:
Rob Port
Jun 24, 2013
11:21am
I recently wrote a post about a trip to Turkey taken by a number of North Dakota legislators paid for by a group called the Turkish American Federation of the Midwest. In speaking with some legislators who didn’t take they trip, they told me that it was organized through what some described as an odd email that many thought was a scam. I decided to dig into the matter a little further, and I found some disturbing facts.
The TAFM, it turns out, is a front group for the Gülen movement, a “transnational religious and social movement led by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.” It’s an Islamic network and has gained some praise as being a more moderate alternative to other global Muslim groups, but has also been criticized for encouraging members to turn away from society to practice a fundamentalist sort of Islam.
In fact, the group has been described as a cult in leaked US diplomatic cables: “When we asked Valeria Heuberger, an Austrian expert on Islam, if the Gulenists have a hidden agenda, she replied, ‘Yes, they do have a hidden agenda, but I don’t think it is a radical agenda. Their agenda is simply to further the ego of their leader, the same as any cult.’”
It has also been criticized for its attitudes toward women, enforcing gender segregation within the group and with many of its members wearing clothing that doesn’t not expose any part of a woman’s arms or legs.
The group is “feared” in Turkey, according to some. “You know we have confronted real fear about this movement, particularly when we’ve tried to get critics to give us an interview,” CBS News’ Leslie Stahl asked America reporter Andrew Finkel, who has been working in Turkey for 25 years, in a 2012 interview about the movement’s charter schools in the US. “What are they afraid of?”
“There’s a fear of reprisal,” he answered. “I mean, it is the case that two or three people who’ve written books highly critical of the Gulen movement are now in jail.”
Finkel also described the Gülen movement as a “cult of personality.”
The group’s founder, Fethullah Gülen, currently lives in the United States rather than Turkey because “if he were to come back, then there would be such a brouhaha,” according to Finkel, “because it seems his followers have taken over key positions in the Turkish government and the police.”
Here in the United States, Gülen has been very active in setting up networks of groups to support his movement:
The 2008 RAND report explained that a “web of organizations propagates Gulen’s vision of Islam.” This web is an enormous and expanding global network which includes over 300 organizations in the United States. It takes an informed eye to detect their connection to the Gulen movement. Gulen’s followers began to establish their organizations in the US around the time Fethullah Gulen arrived in Pennsylvania. Now fourteen years later, approximately 180 Gulenist Turkish cultural, interfaith dialogue, and business organizations are operating in nearly every state and 135 charter schools are operating in 26 states
One of the groups established was the TAFM, which paid the way for the North Dakota legislators who visited Turkey. Which has me wondering, how many of those legislators knew who was really backing their trip? Were they aware of their sponsor;s connections to the controversial Gülen movement? To be fair, the Gülenists are also praised by many for being a relatively moderate Islamic group which does a lot to promote education.
But the group also faces serious accusations about attempts to undermine secular government in Turkey, and using some very thuggish tactics to do it.
Did these legislators even care about who was paying their way to Turkey, or did they just jump at the opportunity for a free trip regardless of who paid for it? And what is the Gülen movement’s interest in flying a bunch of North Dakota legislators to Turkey, anyway?
I don’t think we can accuse any of these legislators of being a part of some plot by a shadowy Islamic group. A simpler explanation is that they were merely dupes. At best, these legislators who accepted the invitation for this trip exercised some poor judgment. At worst, they were used by a not-so-democratic, cult-like group to help bolster their image and reputation as they seek to cement political control in Turkey.
The legislators who went on the trip were Rep. Corey Mock (D-Grand Forks), Rep. Ben Hanson (D-West Fargo), Rep. Lawrence Klemin (R-Bismarck), Rep. Lois Delmore (D-Grand Forks), Sen. Phil Murphy (D-Portland), Sen. Ray Holmberg (R-Grand Forks), and Sen. David O’Connell (D-Lansford).
Perhaps they owe North Dakota voters an explanation for just what they were doing in Turkey.
Tags: ben hanson, corey mock, david o'connell, Fethullah Gülen, gulen movement, lawrence klemin, lois delmore, North Dakota News, phil murphy, ray holmberg, Turkish American Federation of the Midwest
Rob Port
Rob Port is the editor of SayAnythingBlog.com. In 2011 he was a finalist for the Watch Dog of the Year from the Sam Adams Alliance and winner of the Americans For Prosperity Award for Online Excellence. In 2013 the Washington Post named SAB one of the nation's top state-based political blogs, and named Rob one of the state's best political reporters. He writes a weekly column for several North Dakota newspapers, and also serves as a policy fellow for the North Dakota Policy Council.
Email Rob • @robport
http://www.kvrr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20815&Itemid=57 ND Legislators Experience Protests In Turkey by Lezlie Johnson, Reporter
June 13, 2013
A goodwill trip turned into something more than a group of North Dakota legislators bargained for,
landing smack dab in the middle of a massive anti–government protest in Turkey.
Officers fire water cannons and tear gas into a crowd of demonstrators.
Over a 3–day period of an increasingly raging protest, 7 North Dakota lawmakers experienced some of the violence first–hand, starting in Istanbul.
"As we turned the corner we had seen water cannons pushing people out of the park, people were being sprayed before our very eyes," Representative Corey Mock said.
As the protest progressed, Mock took photos and video of his experience.
Although the protest started out peaceful, when the group traveled to Izmir, their trip, which was aimed to develop deeper relationships between countries, now became increasingly stressful.
"When our bus had pulled into the intersection and we had seen over 1–thousand people waving flags,
chanting, protesting, swarming vehicles, that's when the anxiety went to a new level," Mock said.
As protesters took over the bus in front of the group, they realized just how serious this could get, especially once protesters started moving towards their own bus.
"There were some who were a little more aggressive in their actions, the bus was rocked, hit, they had mallets and sticks.
So there was a lot of unique reaction from the protesters geared toward traffic on the streets," Mock said.
Mock says although the protesters were not anti–American, there were moments of uncertainty as they tried to flip the bus.
"There were some gasps. Startling reactions especially as the bus rocked from side to side,
people were trying to climb into the bus, pry open the windows, so that whole feeling of everyone crowding in towards the middle,
it happened pretty quickly" Mock said.
No one was hurt, and the whole experience lasted about one minute because of the bus driver's quick reaction.
As the bus pulled away, there was nothing but disbelief.
"A lot of looks around the bus of astonishment, like wow did that just happen and wondering,
I wonder what's happening to the people behind us and then I hope this isn't going to happen again," Mock said.
Now Mock holds a flag he brought back from Turkey just like the ones protesters were waving,
and says it will be an everyday reminder of what the group experienced overseas.
According to North Dakota Representative Corey Mock, the bus trip was a little like an amusement park roller coaster complete with sticks, mallets, rocks – and of course threatening protesters. The protesters attacked the bus, rocking it while trying to pry open the windows. I suspect that this wet your pants change in the itinerary might have given the politicians time to pause about their decision to sign up for a trip on the Gulen express.
One politician on the bus, Rep. Corey Mock (D-Grand Forks), was quoted as saying, “As the bus pulled away, there was nothing but disbelief.” I get the “disbelief” component – but on my end its disbelief on how incredibly naïve and shameful these political parasites are. Instead of merely planting their butts on a bus tour sponsored by Gulen, they might done a bit of pre-trip research on Gulen’s cult, its insidious movement, and how their tourist trip plays perfectly into Gulen’s master plan to further corrupt the American government by proxy of its campaign contributions and “free trips to Turkey.”
The bus rock and rollers on the trip were Rep. Corey Mock (D-Grand Forks), Rep. Ben Hanson (D-West Fargo), Rep. Lawrence Klemin (R-Bismarck), Rep. Lois Delmore (D-Grand Forks), Sen. Phil Murphy (D-Portland), Sen. Ray Holmberg (R-Grand Forks), and Sen. David O’Connell (D-Lansford). That’s an awful lot of state politicians on a bus tour in Turkey -- politicians who should have instead been in their offices in North Dakota doing the jobs that their constituents were paying them to do. I wonder how thrilled the taxpayers in North Dakota would be if they knew that the politicians that they voted for were too busy indulging in Gulen-related propaganda in Turkey to actually perform their North Dakota legislative duties.
It get’s more than tiresome to hear about how American politicians have this deep-rooted desire to establish “friendly” relations with Turkey by means of free trips, sponsored by Gulen’s cronies. I wonder why they feel the need to visit Turkey -- why not take a few trips to Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, or North Korea --- where there just might be a more compelling case for “friendship?” While these guys and gals are stuffing their faces with free baklava in Turkey, there are certainly more relevant and exponential world issues that more directly affect their constituents at home – like American soldiers coming home from the Middle East missing both limbs and livelihoods.
Call me old fashioned, but I am of the mind that you take care of your own before you spread your resources and goodwill to causes (and in this specific case, the Gulenists), that are only out to exploit and manipulate the United States’ taxpayers. How many rocking buses pelted with sticks and stones do the American politicians needs to experience before the finally figure out that they are being played like a keman, and that the Gulenists are the ones fine-tuning the politicians' strings.
Below are a couple of stories about the North Dakota legislators’ trip to Turkey:
http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/north-dakota-legislators-took-trip-paid-for-by-turkish-group-described-as-cult
North Dakota Legislative Trip Paid For By Controversial Islamic Group
Written By:
Rob Port
Jun 24, 2013
11:21am
I recently wrote a post about a trip to Turkey taken by a number of North Dakota legislators paid for by a group called the Turkish American Federation of the Midwest. In speaking with some legislators who didn’t take they trip, they told me that it was organized through what some described as an odd email that many thought was a scam. I decided to dig into the matter a little further, and I found some disturbing facts.
The TAFM, it turns out, is a front group for the Gülen movement, a “transnational religious and social movement led by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.” It’s an Islamic network and has gained some praise as being a more moderate alternative to other global Muslim groups, but has also been criticized for encouraging members to turn away from society to practice a fundamentalist sort of Islam.
In fact, the group has been described as a cult in leaked US diplomatic cables: “When we asked Valeria Heuberger, an Austrian expert on Islam, if the Gulenists have a hidden agenda, she replied, ‘Yes, they do have a hidden agenda, but I don’t think it is a radical agenda. Their agenda is simply to further the ego of their leader, the same as any cult.’”
It has also been criticized for its attitudes toward women, enforcing gender segregation within the group and with many of its members wearing clothing that doesn’t not expose any part of a woman’s arms or legs.
The group is “feared” in Turkey, according to some. “You know we have confronted real fear about this movement, particularly when we’ve tried to get critics to give us an interview,” CBS News’ Leslie Stahl asked America reporter Andrew Finkel, who has been working in Turkey for 25 years, in a 2012 interview about the movement’s charter schools in the US. “What are they afraid of?”
“There’s a fear of reprisal,” he answered. “I mean, it is the case that two or three people who’ve written books highly critical of the Gulen movement are now in jail.”
Finkel also described the Gülen movement as a “cult of personality.”
The group’s founder, Fethullah Gülen, currently lives in the United States rather than Turkey because “if he were to come back, then there would be such a brouhaha,” according to Finkel, “because it seems his followers have taken over key positions in the Turkish government and the police.”
Here in the United States, Gülen has been very active in setting up networks of groups to support his movement:
The 2008 RAND report explained that a “web of organizations propagates Gulen’s vision of Islam.” This web is an enormous and expanding global network which includes over 300 organizations in the United States. It takes an informed eye to detect their connection to the Gulen movement. Gulen’s followers began to establish their organizations in the US around the time Fethullah Gulen arrived in Pennsylvania. Now fourteen years later, approximately 180 Gulenist Turkish cultural, interfaith dialogue, and business organizations are operating in nearly every state and 135 charter schools are operating in 26 states
One of the groups established was the TAFM, which paid the way for the North Dakota legislators who visited Turkey. Which has me wondering, how many of those legislators knew who was really backing their trip? Were they aware of their sponsor;s connections to the controversial Gülen movement? To be fair, the Gülenists are also praised by many for being a relatively moderate Islamic group which does a lot to promote education.
But the group also faces serious accusations about attempts to undermine secular government in Turkey, and using some very thuggish tactics to do it.
Did these legislators even care about who was paying their way to Turkey, or did they just jump at the opportunity for a free trip regardless of who paid for it? And what is the Gülen movement’s interest in flying a bunch of North Dakota legislators to Turkey, anyway?
I don’t think we can accuse any of these legislators of being a part of some plot by a shadowy Islamic group. A simpler explanation is that they were merely dupes. At best, these legislators who accepted the invitation for this trip exercised some poor judgment. At worst, they were used by a not-so-democratic, cult-like group to help bolster their image and reputation as they seek to cement political control in Turkey.
The legislators who went on the trip were Rep. Corey Mock (D-Grand Forks), Rep. Ben Hanson (D-West Fargo), Rep. Lawrence Klemin (R-Bismarck), Rep. Lois Delmore (D-Grand Forks), Sen. Phil Murphy (D-Portland), Sen. Ray Holmberg (R-Grand Forks), and Sen. David O’Connell (D-Lansford).
Perhaps they owe North Dakota voters an explanation for just what they were doing in Turkey.
Tags: ben hanson, corey mock, david o'connell, Fethullah Gülen, gulen movement, lawrence klemin, lois delmore, North Dakota News, phil murphy, ray holmberg, Turkish American Federation of the Midwest
Rob Port
Rob Port is the editor of SayAnythingBlog.com. In 2011 he was a finalist for the Watch Dog of the Year from the Sam Adams Alliance and winner of the Americans For Prosperity Award for Online Excellence. In 2013 the Washington Post named SAB one of the nation's top state-based political blogs, and named Rob one of the state's best political reporters. He writes a weekly column for several North Dakota newspapers, and also serves as a policy fellow for the North Dakota Policy Council.
Email Rob • @robport
http://www.kvrr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20815&Itemid=57 ND Legislators Experience Protests In Turkey by Lezlie Johnson, Reporter
June 13, 2013
A goodwill trip turned into something more than a group of North Dakota legislators bargained for,
landing smack dab in the middle of a massive anti–government protest in Turkey.
Officers fire water cannons and tear gas into a crowd of demonstrators.
Over a 3–day period of an increasingly raging protest, 7 North Dakota lawmakers experienced some of the violence first–hand, starting in Istanbul.
"As we turned the corner we had seen water cannons pushing people out of the park, people were being sprayed before our very eyes," Representative Corey Mock said.
As the protest progressed, Mock took photos and video of his experience.
Although the protest started out peaceful, when the group traveled to Izmir, their trip, which was aimed to develop deeper relationships between countries, now became increasingly stressful.
"When our bus had pulled into the intersection and we had seen over 1–thousand people waving flags,
chanting, protesting, swarming vehicles, that's when the anxiety went to a new level," Mock said.
As protesters took over the bus in front of the group, they realized just how serious this could get, especially once protesters started moving towards their own bus.
"There were some who were a little more aggressive in their actions, the bus was rocked, hit, they had mallets and sticks.
So there was a lot of unique reaction from the protesters geared toward traffic on the streets," Mock said.
Mock says although the protesters were not anti–American, there were moments of uncertainty as they tried to flip the bus.
"There were some gasps. Startling reactions especially as the bus rocked from side to side,
people were trying to climb into the bus, pry open the windows, so that whole feeling of everyone crowding in towards the middle,
it happened pretty quickly" Mock said.
No one was hurt, and the whole experience lasted about one minute because of the bus driver's quick reaction.
As the bus pulled away, there was nothing but disbelief.
"A lot of looks around the bus of astonishment, like wow did that just happen and wondering,
I wonder what's happening to the people behind us and then I hope this isn't going to happen again," Mock said.
Now Mock holds a flag he brought back from Turkey just like the ones protesters were waving,
and says it will be an everyday reminder of what the group experienced overseas.
12 Tennessee Lawmakers get free trips to Turkey and Azerbaijan by Gulen Movement
Chief Investigative Reporter
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Who's providing
free foreign trips to state lawmakers -- and what do they want?
A group of Tennessee legislators will
soon be packing their bags and heading overseas for what most Tennesseans would
consider an exotic trip.
But those lawmakers will not be picking
up the tab -- and few seemed to know anything about the group that is.
In the waning days of this year's
legislative session, lawmakers debated whether proposed changes to the state's
campaign finance laws would open the door to foreign influence.
"If you want to know who
contributes to my campaign, it's as easy as the click of the mouse," said
Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, a Smith County Republican.
Still, what you won't find online --
and what Weaver did not mention -- is that, in late May, a select group of
state lawmakers will be jetting off for a 12-day, all-expenses paid trip, landing
first in Azerbaijan, then heading a few days later to nearby Turkey.
The invitations came from a group
called the Turkish American Chamber of Commerce of the Southeast
-- with the money coming from a sister group called the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians.
Both groups have ties to a movement
headed by a moderate Muslim imam named Fethullah Gulen.
"You have accepted the invitation
to go on the trip?" NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked Rep. Mark
White.
"I would like to look into going
on that, yes," the Memphis Republican answered.
"Why is that?"
"Because it's an educational
experience."
White is one of the nine lawmakers who
have accepted the invitation to go on the trip.
Others, according to a list provided to
NewsChannel 5, are: Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville; Sen. Brian Kelsey,
R-Germantown; Rep. Vance Dennis, R-Savannah; Rep. Roger Kane, R-Knoxville; Rep.
Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis; Rep. Joe Towns, D-Memphis; Rep. Johnnie Turner,
D-Memphis; and Terri Lynn Weaver.
Safety Commissioner Bill Gibbons has
also agreed to go, as has his assistant commissioner David Purkey.
"Does it matter to you who is
paying for this trip?" we asked White.
"Yeah, we'll find that out,"
he answered on the last day of the legislative session. "Like I say, I
just have not had a chance to -- we've been so busy in session -- just haven't
had a chance to look into that yet."
Fethullah Gulen has generally drawn
praise for his moderate religious views and his message of tolerance.
Time Magazine just named him to its
lists of the 100 most influential people in
the world.
But a U.S. State Department cable
published by Wikileaks describes his movement as being one that
"officially professes to be interested in ecumenical understanding, but
whose roots are intensely Islamic."
As 60 Minutes reported last
year, the movement is also behind a secular network of science and
math charter schools that began in Turkey and has now spread to the U.S.
One of those is in Memphis.
In fact, our NewsChannel 5
investigation discovered that the president of the Turkish American Chamber,
Ayhan Korucu, is also the president of a Gulen school, the Fulton Science
Academy, in Atlanta.
And the president of the Turquoise
Council, Kemal Oksuz, is -- according to the New York Times -- a principal in a company that has built
Gulen schools in the U.S. Oksuz also has served as chairman of the Gulen
Institute and was interviewed for a PBS story on the imam.
The trip comes at a time that some
lawmakers, like White, are pushing legislation to make it easier for charter
schools to get approval to open across the state.
"You're telling me something that
I haven't heard before," White said.
"Should you have asked who was
providing the funding before you accepted?" NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked.
"Well," the lawmaker
answered, "it's been done for so many years I didn't see any problem with
it."
House Education Committee Chairman
Harry Brooks, a Knoxville Republican who has been helping to coordinate the
upcoming trip, keeps in his office mementos from both Azerbaijan and Turkey
from a trip he accepted last year.
Brooks said that there were five
Tennessee lawmakers on that trip.
Other lawmakers, according to Brooks,
were: Sen. Reginald Tate, D-Memphis; Rep. Joe Armstrong, R-Knoxville; Rep. Josh
Evans, R-Greenbrier; and Rep. Gary Odom, D-Nashville.
It was trip that Brooks described as
part economic development, part goodwill.
"What we gain is, one, an
understanding of a society that wants to be a friend to this country," he
added.
But Brooks insisted that charter
schools were never discussed.
"That has never been an item of
discussion," he said.
And Tennessee isn't alone in getting
attention from the Turkish groups.
Some lawmakers have reportedly had second thoughts about such
trips in Texas, where there's a whole chain of Gulen schools.
But even if the ultimate goal is to
curry favor with lawmakers, Brooks still doesn't see a problem.
"If you're a legislator in the
state of Tennessee and if you don't have the courage to vote your conviction --
whether someone has given you a donation or not -- you don't need to be down
here -- simple fact," he said.
One of those invitees, Rep. Johnnie
Turner, insisted that she is a staunch charter school opponent.
Under Tennessee law, if the hosts had
hired lobbyists, these trips would be illegal.
But, as is, they are entirely legal --
and no one has to disclose them to the public.
Late Monday, NewsChannel 5 Investigates heard from Kemal Oksuz -- and he put
the cost at close to $4,000 a person. He said lawmakers from several states
were being invited.
Still, Oksuz insisted the goal is about
establishing opportunities for partnerships, not about charter schools.
E-mail: pwilliams@newschannel5.com
Tenn. lawmakers encounter Turkish protesters
Stacey Campfield
“They were really a lot like the Occupy Wall Street crowd, or Occupy Nashville,” said Campfield, adding that he had talked with several of the protesters, who were in a peaceful mode when encountered by the Tennesseans in Istanbul.
“They had the same type of arguments” in complaints about capitalism, interrelated with what the protestors saw as unwarranted development of a city park, said Campfield, one of several legislators making the trip sponsored by the Turkish-American Chamber of Commerce of the Southeast.
The Knoxville News Sentinel has the rest of the story. - See more at: http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/article/108489/tenn-lawmakers-encounter-turkish-protesters#sthash.ReXir3L0.dpuf
Gulen Movement investing in US Politicians
Investing in US Politicians
Last updated Nov 5, 2013
This page is incomplete; more entries will be added.
On June 4, 2010, a Wall Street Journal article about Fethullah Gulen stated: "An English-language Turkish newspaper reported that Mr. Gulen has told his followers they couldn't visit him on his Poconos estate if they didn't first donate to their local congressman. Mr. Gulen denies making the remark." Despite Mr. Gulen's denials, Gulenist individuals do indeed make a remarkable number of political contributions. A sampling is given below. See this page specifically for Texas.
Notes: table may be wider than your browser page, so scroll to right to view all columns. Numbers in parenthesis are negative. Do not assume that seemingly duplicate entries are errors; on some occasions Gulenists have made two contributions of the same amount to the same candidate on the same day. This list includes both federal and state elections.
Total of the above so far
(and this is far from complete - expect updates shortly)
$1,412,010
http://turkishinvitations.weebly.com/investing-in-us-politicians.html
Maine Legislatures visit Turkey but Gulen proposed charter school is denied
Maine State Senator Roger Katz, State Representatives Karen Kusiak, and Dennis Lee Keschl were in Turkey for an unofficial visit. During their trip to Turkey, they visited Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, and Trabzon. Their trip to Trabzon had a special meaning since KARGID (Association of Turkish Businessmen of the Black Sea) personally invited the State legislators.
As Senator Katz pointed out, the main purpose of the trip was to develop economic, educational, and cultural relations between Turkey and the US. Throughout their trip, they had a chance to visit various economic and educational institutions that specialize in Turkey-US relations. Sen. Katz pointed out that Turkey and the US have close relations with each other because of the mutual history and by having these kind of trips they are taking those relations to another higher level. Due to their mutual history, Sen. Katz pointed out that Turkey and the US have close relations with each other; therefore, by having these kinds of trips, they take those relations to a higher level
LATER THE GULENISTS TRIED TO OPEN A SCHOOL IN MAINE AND IT WAS
DENIED
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Gulen Politician warning, "You touch it you burn" another Gulen politician steps down
60 Minutes" to Air Report on Turkish Charter School Cleric Tied to Bob
Filner
Just in time for the final stretch of San Diego's race for mayor, the CBS
news magazine 60 Minutes is airing a report this coming Sunday about a
controversial Turkish spiritual leader, followers of whom, records show, have
contributed money to the mayoral campaign of Democratic congressman Bob Filner.
The Muslim scholar, Fethullah Gulen, leads a worldwide movement that has
been heavily involved in creating high-tech charter schools around the world
and has both backers and detractors.
As we reported in March of last year, Filner
visited Turkey in late December 2010, courtesy of a nonprofit corporation called
the Pacifica Institute:
"Highlights, according to the itinerary, included a stop at Topkapi
Palace, lunch at Sultan Ahmet Square, a visit to the Karakoy Jewish Foundation
Museum, capturing '700 years of amiable relations between Jews and Turks,' and
a December 25 shopping tour of the Grand Bazaar, 'one of the largest and oldest
covered markets in the world, with more than 58 covered streets and over 1200
shops.… Many of the stalls in the bazaar are grouped by type of goods, with
special areas for leather coats, gold jewelry and the like.'"
Filner took another tour paid for by Pacifica, this one with stops in
Istanbul and northern Iraq, in April 2011, according to a travel disclosure he
filed with the House a year ago this month.
The congressman subsequently wielded a pair of scissors at the 2011
ribbon-cutting for the new Washington headquarters of the Turkic American
Alliance, an event videoed and posted on the group's YouTube page.
A
LESSON LEARNED FOR ALL AMERICAN POLITICANS THAT ACCEPT BRIBE MONEY FROM THE
TURKISH GULEN MOVEMENT AND LOBBYING. BOB
FILNER HAS HAD TO STEP DOWN AS MAYOR OF SAN DIEGO
BECAUSE
OF SCANDALS AMONG THEM IS SEXUAL HARASSMENT.
EX San Diego
Mayor Bob Filner charged with Felony and false imprisonment
Former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner pleaded guilty on Tuesday to
felony false imprisonment and two misdemeanor counts of battery involving three
women, just weeks after he left office amid a storm of sexual harassment
allegations.
The plea came in California state Superior Court. Prosecutors
did not elaborate on the details of the allegations to which Filner pleaded
guilty. The victims were identified only as Jane Does. Filner's attorney, Jerry
Coughlan, said none of the victims were employees.
Filner, 71, did not address reporters but Coughlan said the
former mayor "profusely apologizes" for his behavior.
"I think he wants to redeem his original legacy, which was
a wonderful one, and put this behind him," Coughlan said.
YET
THIS LOSS OF THE GULEN MOVEMENT’S TOOL IN SAN DIEGO DIDN’T STOP THEM FROM
APPLYING FOR A NEW CHARTER SCHOOL IN San Diego county called “Magnolia Science
Academy-Next Generation”
See petition to the SDUSD here
Gulen Charter School in Texas submits application ...
Harmony Parent the TRUTH: Gulen Charter School in Texas submits application ...: Sharif Salim M.ed is listed on page 393 of the charter application as a board member of the proposed Harmony School of Excellence in Washi...
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Americans voice your concern about the Gulen Movement cult in US Education SIGN PETITION
 |
| Remind American Politicians and our President that they work for American tax payers not the Gulen Movement Send this petition to 5 of your friends to stop the Gulen Movement in our education and in our policy making. |
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Chicago's Turkish Solidarity Action
at 3:00 he mentions how the islamic government of Turkey is destroying secularism and is supported by the USA. at 3:19 he speaks about Fethullah Gulen's control of Turkey.
Friday, June 7, 2013
Turkish Groups Offer Free Foreign Trips For Tennessee Lawmakers
Turkish Groups Offer Free Foreign Trips For Lawmakers
by Phil Williams
Chief Investigative Reporter
Chief Investigative Reporter
NASHVILLE,
Tenn. - Who's providing free foreign trips to state lawmakers -- and
what do they want?
A group of Tennessee
legislators will soon be packing their bags and heading overseas for what most
Tennesseans would consider an exotic trip.
But those lawmakers will
not be picking up the tab -- and few seemed to know anything about the group
that is.
In the waning days of this
year's legislative session, lawmakers debated whether proposed changes to the
state's campaign finance laws would open the door to foreign influence.
"If you want to know
who contributes to my campaign, it's as easy as the click of the mouse,"
said Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, a Smith County Republican.
Still, what you won't find
online -- and what Weaver did not mention -- is that, in late May, a select
group of state lawmakers will be jetting off for a 12-day, all-expenses paid
trip, landing first in Azerbaijan, then heading a few days later to nearby
Turkey.
The invitations came from a
group called the Turkish American Chamber of Commerce of the
Southeast -- with the money coming from a sister group called the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians.
Both groups have ties to a
movement headed by a moderate Muslim imam named Fethullah Gulen.
"You have accepted the
invitation to go on the trip?" NewsChannel
5 Investigates asked Rep. Mark White.
"I would like to look
into going on that, yes," the Memphis Republican answered.
"Why is that?"
"Because it's an
educational experience."
White is one of the nine
lawmakers who have accepted the invitation to go on the trip.
Others, according to a list
provided to NewsChannel 5, are:
Sen. Stacey Campfield,
R-Knoxville; Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown; Rep. Vance Dennis, R-Savannah;
Rep. Roger Kane, R-Knoxville; Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis; Rep. Joe
Towns, D-Memphis; Rep. Johnnie Turner, D-Memphis; and Terri Lynn Weaver.
Tennessee Safety
Commissioner Bill Gibbons has also agreed to go, as has his assistant
commissioner David Purkey.
"Does it matter to you
who is paying for this trip?" we asked White.
"Yeah, we'll find that
out," he answered on the last day of the legislative session. "Like I
say, I just have not had a chance to -- we've been so busy in session -- just
haven't had a chance to look into that yet."
Fethullah Gulen has
generally drawn praise for his moderate religious views and his message of
tolerance. Time Magazine just named him to its lists of the 100 most influential
people in the world.
But a U.S. State Department cable published by
Wikileaks describes his movement as being one that "officially
professes to be interested in ecumenical understanding, but whose roots are
intensely Islamic."
As 60 Minutes reported
last year, the movement is also behind a secular network of science
and math charter schools that began in Turkey and has now spread to the U.S.
One of those is in Memphis.
In fact, our NewsChannel 5
investigation discovered that the president of the Turkish American Chamber,
Ayhan Korucu, is also the president of a Gulen school, the Fulton Science
Academy, in Atlanta.
And the president of the
Turquoise Council, Kemal Oksuz, is -- according to the New
York Times -- a principal in a company that has built Gulen
schools in the U.S. Oksuz also has served as chairman of the Gulen Institute in
Houston and was interviewed for a PBS story on the imam.
The trip comes at a time
that some lawmakers, like White, are pushing legislation to make it easier for
charter schools to get approval to open across the state.
"You're telling me
something that I haven't heard before," White said.
"Should you have asked
who was providing the funding before you accepted?" NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked.
"Well," the
lawmaker answered, "it's been done for so many years I didn't see any
problem with it."
House Education Committee
Chairman Harry Brooks, a Knoxville Republican who has been helping to
coordinate the upcoming trip, keeps in his office mementos from both Azerbaijan
and Turkey from a trip he accepted last year.
Brooks said that there were
five Tennessee lawmakers on that trip.
Other lawmakers, according
to Brooks, were: Sen. Reginald Tate, D-Memphis; Rep. Joe Armstrong,
R-Knoxville; Rep. Josh Evans, R-Greenbrier; and Rep. Gary Odom, D-Nashville.
It was trip that Brooks
described as part economic development, part goodwill.
"What we gain is, one,
an understanding of a society that wants to be a friend to this country,"
he added.
But Brooks insisted that
charter schools were never discussed.
"That has never been
an item of discussion," he said.
And Tennessee isn't alone
in getting attention from the Turkish groups.
According to a news report,
some lawmakers have had second thoughts about
such trips in Texas, where there's a whole chain of Gulen schools.
But even if the ultimate
goal is to curry favor with lawmakers, Brooks still doesn't see a problem.
"If you're a
legislator in the state of Tennessee and if you don't have the courage to vote
your conviction -- whether someone has given you a donation or not -- you don't
need to be down here -- simple fact," he said.
One of those invitees, Rep.
Johnnie Turner, insisted that she is a staunch charter school opponent and has
never discussed the issue with her hosts.
Under Tennessee law, if the
hosts had hired lobbyists, these trips would be illegal.
But, as is, they are
entirely legal -- and no one has to disclose them to the public.
Late Monday, NewsChannel 5 Investigates heard from Kemal Oksuz --
and he put the cost at close to $4,000 a person. He said lawmakers from several
states were being invited.
Still, Oksuz insisted the
goal is about establishing opportunities for partnerships, not about charter
schools.
E-mail: pwilliams@newschannel5.com http://www.newschannel5.com/story/22111765/free-foreign-trips-for-state-lawmakers
View
selected State Department cables (via Wikileaks):
Turkey's Invisible Man Casts Long Shadow
Turkish Gulenist Movement in Turkmenistan
Turkish Fethullah Gulen Network's Presence in Azerbaijan
Turkish Gulenist Schools: Be Everywhere or Be Nowhere
Fethullah Gulen: Why Are His Followers Traveling?
Verdict Suspended In Case Against Islamic Leader Fethullah Gulen
Turkey's Invisible Man Casts Long Shadow
Turkish Gulenist Movement in Turkmenistan
Turkish Fethullah Gulen Network's Presence in Azerbaijan
Turkish Gulenist Schools: Be Everywhere or Be Nowhere
Fethullah Gulen: Why Are His Followers Traveling?
Verdict Suspended In Case Against Islamic Leader Fethullah Gulen
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