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Ethiopia schools linked to Turkish cleric Gulen are sold

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Ethiopia-gulen-schoolsA network of schools in Ethiopia linked to Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Turkey of masterminding a failed coup attempt last year, is changing ownership, The Associated Press says.

The sale of the Nejashi Ethio-Turkish International Schools follows pressure from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is urging countries that host institutions inspired by Gulen to close or take them over.

Cecil Aydin, a coordinator at the schools in Ethiopia, this week described the sale of the school network to a group of German educators as a “business decision.”

Aydin did not identify the new owners. The German embassy has not commented.

Ethiopia previously said the schools would be handed over to a foundation backed by the Turkish government.

Related links:

AP. Ethiopian schools linked to Turkish cleric are sold

Turkey runs informer network in Austria to target critics: MP

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Austrian lawmaker from the Austrian Greens Peter Pilz (File photo).

A senior Austrian opposition lawmaker has accused Turkey of running an informer network via its embassy in Vienna aimed at targeting the critics of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and promoting his policies.

On Tuesday, Peter Pilz, from the Austrian Greens party, said at a news conference that he had sent documents regarding the activities of the network, run by the umbrella group ATIB, to the police.

The ATIB is headed by the religion attaché at Turkey’s embassy, Fatih Mehmet Karadas, and oversees the activities of dozens of mosques across Austria.

“The ATIB umbrella group is an instrument of hard, ruthless and, in my view, legally unacceptable Turkish government politics in Austria,” Pilz told a news conference.

Pilz noted that the Turkish government sends imams to work for the ATIB to collect information in particular about followers of exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Erdogan has accused of plotting an attempted coup in Turkey last July.

Gulen denies any involvement in the abortive coup, which claimed the lives of at least 240 people. However, the Turkish government has arrested tens of thousands of people over suspected ties with the US-based cleric.

The umbrella organization also monitors Turkish Kurds, Turkish opposition politicians and journalists in Austria, Pilz added.

Responding to the comments by the Austrian lawmaker, the Turkish government and the ATIB issued separate statements, denying the accusations.

“We absolutely reject these allegations. We urge Austrian officials to act with reason and to refrain from statements that would harm Turkish-Austrian relations and the peace of the Turkish community in Austria,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced in a statement.

In another statement, the ATIB said that as an Austrian body it did not tolerate any foreign interference.

Austria’s Chancellery and Interior Ministry said their experts are examining the matter.

In a similar case last month, Germany’s domestic spy agency launched a probe into possible spying by Turkish clerics following a complaint by a German Green politician.

Last week, the Turkish embassy informed the Austrian Foreign Ministry that its religion attaché would end his activities in Vienna “soon,” without providing a reason.

In a Sunday interview, Karadas told an Austrian newspaper that ATIB does not oversee the people’s private lives, but said it has a duty to ensure that the people of Turkish origin in Austria are not “radicalized” by Gulen.

“That’s why it is legitimate for us to do research and deliver reports in order to protect our fellow citizens and to protect the Austrian people,” Karadas said.

Gulen denies any involvement in last summer’s coup attempt.

Turkey wide-ranging crackdown following the coup has been criticized by Austria and other EU nations.

Germany investigates possible anti-Gulen spies by Turkish government

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German police have raided apartments of four men suspected of carrying out espionage on behalf of the Turkish government. The men, said to be clerics, are accused of spying on supporters of cleric Fethullah Gulen.

German authorities said on Wednesday that they had raided the apartments of four imams suspected of spying on opponents of the Turkish government.

The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (GBA) said the raids, in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, were to find evidence. No arrests were made.

The GBA said the imams were believed to have given information to a Turkish diplomatic mission about followers of the cleric Fethullah Gulen. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused US-based Gulen of instigating a failed military coup in July last year, and has launched a crackdown on his supporters inside Turkey.

“The individuals are suspected of having collected information about members of the so-called Gulen movement and passed it on to the general consulate in Cologne,” the GBA said.

Gulen – who was close to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan  before their relationship turned sour – has condemned the coup attempt, while acknowledging some of his supporters may have participated.

The GBA said in a statement that the clerics were believed to have acted on an order issued by the Turkish based religious authority Diyanet last September. That order requested “detailed reports” on pro-Gulen organizations, including small community groups.

Ankara’s influence ‘clear’

German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said the four men were members of Ditib, Germany’s largest association of mosques. The group brings imams from Turkey to serve Germany’s Turkish community, which numbers some three million people.

“It is very clear that the influence of the Turkish state on Ditib is big,” said Maas in a statement. “The association must plausibly disengage itself from Ankara.”

An Austrian, Green party lawmaker this week claimed that Turkish diplomats were enlisting Turkish religious organizations in Austria to undermine Gulen supporters there. Parliamentarian Peter Pilz said his team was working on documents to show the practice was even more widespread, spanning some 30 countries across Europe, Africa and Asia.

rc/jm (AP, Reuters)

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/germany-investigates-possible-anti-gulen-spies/a-37557872

Trump new CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s recent visit to Turkey

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Erdogan-to-Trump-terroristPompeo’s visit was decided during a 45-minute telephone conversation between Presidents Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdogan late Tuesday, according to officials from Erdogan’s office. They briefed a group of journalists Wednesday on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations.

The officials said Pompeo would also discuss the issue of U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters, who the Turkish government considers to be terrorists because of their affiliation with outlawed Kurdish rebels in Turkey.

It was not surprising to see Turkish pro-government newspapers stressing that Ankara had delivered a warning that the U.S. should stop its cooperation with – or at least to limit the involvement of – the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in the upcoming Raqqa offensive. But amid the standard coverage of the CIA chief’s first visit to Turkey, it is worth noting that some columnists were sticking to their conspiracy-minded rhetoric ongoing since the July 2016 coup attempt, openly putting the CIA at the center of alleged support for the movement of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen.

As expected, new CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s recent visit has made the headlines of the Turkish press. Pompeo is not only the head of world’s most famous spy agency, but he is also a perfect example of U.S. President Donald Trump’s favorite kind of operator.

The extradition of Gülen was possibly one of the discussion topics between Pompeo and his Turkish counterparts. In this context, one lawmaker from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was quoted in the pro-government press as saying that Washington would never extradite Gülen but kill him and make it look like a suicide.

Turkey: new wave of purges, 4,500 officials sacked

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The Turkish authorities have sacked nearly 4,500 additional officials in connection with the purges launched after the coup attempt in July, according to a decree published in the Official Gazette.

Among the 4,464 people expelled from the civil service are 2,585 employees of the Ministry of Education, 893 of the gendarmerie, 10 of the Court of Cassation, 10 others of the High Electoral Council and 88 of the public television channel TRT.

Among the dismissed officials are also 330 academics from the Council of Higher Education (YÖK), including Ibrahim Kaboglu, one of the country’s most renowned constitutional law specialists.

These measures are taken within the framework of the state of emergency established after the July 15 coup attempt. The Turkish authorities accuse Fethullah Gülen, a preacher exiled in the United States, of having hatched the coup de force, which he denies.

Since the failed coup, more than 41,000 people have been arrested in Turkey and over 100,000 sacked or suspended, including teachers, police officers and magistrates.

Dozens of media and associations have also been closed and many journalists dismissed. On an unprecedented scale in Turkey, these purges are causing concern among Western partners in Ankara and human rights organizations, who fear that the state of emergency may serve as a pretext for suppressing any dissenting voice .

This concern is all the stronger as Turkey prepares for a referendum, presumably in April, on a constitutional revision greatly strengthening the powers of Mr. Erdogan. The opposition denounces an unfavorable context for democratic debate, in a state of emergency.

The Turkish authorities, for their part, affirm that these exceptional measures are necessary to eliminate the risks of sedition and to face the “terrorist” threat of the Islamic State (EI) and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The country has been hit for more than a year and a half by an unprecedented wave of attacks, including strikes in Istanbul and Ankara and killing hundreds

USA: Scores of state lawmakers took trips subsidized by controversial Turkish opposition movement

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Gulen-schools

Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen speaks to members of the media at his compound in Saylorsburg, Pa., in 2016. His Hizmet movement helped send at least 151 U.S. state legislators to Turkey, even though the Turkish government now calls him a terrorist.
Chris Post/AP

Gulen groups are connected to U.S. charter school network overseen by legislators

By Liz Essley Whyte

Just why exactly would 151 state legislators from places like Idaho and Texas accept subsidized junkets from a Turkish opposition group now blamed by that country’s government for an attempted coup last summer?

It’s puzzling that state legislators who rarely get involved in foreign policy matters have been courted with international trips.

It’s especially surprising for the invitations to come from a powerful religious movement that until recently ran media outlets and a bank before falling out with the government in Turkey, a pivotal U.S. ally that serves as the gateway to the Middle East. Though followers of the movement deny having supported the failed coup, Turkey has asked the United States to extradite its leader, Fethullah Gulen, a reclusive Islamic cleric who lives in a compound not in Ankara or Istanbul but in the woods of Pennsylvania.

The Center for Public Integrity documented the extent of the trips and found that some state lawmakers who attended them later introduced resolutions supporting Gulen’s controversial Hizmet movement. And some have even supported charter schools that are part of a network from Washington, D.C., to California of roughly 160 taxpayer-funded schools run by friends of the movement.

While some familiar with the lawmakers’ trips frame them as innocuous learning experiences, the trips are meant to transform American community leaders into Gulen sympathizers, according to Joshua Hendrick, a sociologist at Loyola University and a leading expert on the movement.

“It most certainly has the impact of cultivating influence,” Hendrick said. “It is a political effort but it is framed as a grassroots mobilization of dialogue.”

‘Sympathetic to the cause’

The long parade of state legislators who have accepted the heavily subsidized trips from the Gulen movement includes some influential figures. The man known as Illinois’ most powerful state politician, Democratic Speaker of the House Mike Madigan, traveled four times to Turkey on trips sponsored by nonprofit groups associated with Gulen’s Hizmet — or “service” — movement.

In 2011, at least a tenth of Idaho’s state legislators toured the land of the Ottomans on the movement’s dime.

At least four Texas lawmakers who have served on legislative education committees went on the sponsored trips. The Lone Star state is home to the most Gulen-linked charter schools.

California has about a dozen of the schools, as do Florida and Ohio. Arizona, Illinois and Missouri are among the states that have them, as well.

The Center for Public Integrity used lawmakers’ annual disclosures and news reports to identify 151 state legislators from 29 states who toured Turkey between 2006 and 2015 thanks to more than two dozen nonprofits associated with the Gulen movement.

Among those who went on the trips were lawmakers who had rarely traveled overseas. Many had little knowledge of Gulen or Turkish politics. Few of their states have trade connections to Turkey.

But state legislators represent the political farm team of leaders who may someday play in the big leagues of Congress or beyond. Thom Tillis, for one, was first elected to the North Carolina statehouse in 2006 and went on a trip to Turkey with a Gulen movement group in 2011. Fast forward: The Republican is now a U.S. senator serving on the powerful Armed Services Committee, which oversees members of the U.S. military stationed in Turkey.

State lawmakers also shape education policy and hold the purse strings on state budgets, which fund charter schools.

“It’s effective public relations,” said William Martin, a Rice University sociologist who went on two sponsored trips. “That can affect their schools, it can affect the things they would like to do.”

The schools have denied connections to Gulen, but experts and even some friends of the movement call the links obvious. The charter schools are often founded and run by individuals with long ties to the Gulen movement, and they frequently hire Turkish teachers, sponsor their visas and move them between schools.  Many were set up with the help of nonprofits tied to the movement.

Gulen supporters say the trips for lawmakers promoted intercultural dialogue, a key component of Gulen’s teaching. The former imam preaches a unique brand of Islamic mysticism paired with Turkish nationalism and respect for modern science.

“We wanted to act as a kind of a bridge” between Americans and Turks, said Atilla Kahveci, vice president of the California-based Pacifica Institute, a Gulen-movement group that has organized lawmaker trips. “We didn’t have any kind of, from our point of view, ulterior agenda, no matter how it seems from outside.”

But other experts think the trips have political motivations.

“It’s like any other lobbying or political operation,” said James Jeffrey, who served as ambassador to Turkey under President George W. Bush and is now a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank. “They’re doing this to advance their cause.”

American sympathizers have stuck up for Gulen and his followers. Since 2011, state lawmakers in 23 states have introduced at least 54 resolutions honoring Turkey or Turkish Americans, some of which specifically praised Gulen or Gulen-movement organizations, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of data from Quorum, a legislative tracking service.

For example, the Illinois House of Representatives passed a resolution in 2011 recognizing Gulen for his “inspirational contributions to the promotion of global peace and understanding.” A Gulen-movement group sponsored at least 32 trips to Turkey for Illinois state lawmakers between 2008 and 2012, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

In Kansas, former state Rep. Tom Moxley, a Republican who went on a subsidized trip to Turkey in 2011, sponsored a resolution the following year that praised Turkey’s diversity and called for the creation of a Kansan-Turkish Friendship Network.

“I’m more sympathetic to the cause, the belief system of this group of Muslims, versus the ones that are in power in Turkey today,” he said. “We’re watching a dictator take over at a time when the American government can least afford to lose them as a friend.”

Source: https://www.publicintegrity.org/2017/02/09/20657/scores-state-lawmakers-took-trips-subsidized-controversial-turkish-opposition?utm_campaign=key-findings&utm_source=publici_website&utm_medium=twitter

 

Will Trump Administration Close Turkish Imam #Gulen 250 Charter Schools in U.S.? @realDonaldTrump

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It is an irony that the Gülen network with their schools, charity and trade organizations was able to settle not only in Turkey  but in many other countries in Africa and around the world with the help of the same Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) government when Erdoğan-led governments and the Gülen network were in a symbiotic relationship from 2002 to 2013. The relations broke down after the launch of a major graft probe in December 2013 in which Erdoğan’s ministers, officials and even family members were alleged to be involved; Erdoğan immediately denounced it as a coup attempt against him by the Gülenists.

Gülenists had poured in donations and established close relations with the Democratic administration over the years anyway. They have nearly 250 schools in the U.S., even universities; North American University in Texas, for example, recently appointed a well-known Gülenist, Ali Şerif Tekalan, as its rector. Tekalan is a former rector at Turkey’s Fatih University but is currently the subject of an arrest warrant.

The good news for Erdoğan is that the Trump administration might indeed take some steps to curb the Gülen network, at least its operations from the U.S. But it may not be in the form Turkey wants; he might take legal action against the Gülen network like other Islamist networks operating in and from the U.S.

And then comes the possible bad news. Trump and his camp might take legal action against Gülen not because the Gülen network attempted a bloody coup in Turkey but because he is running an Islamist network and because many heavyweights in Trump’s team are openly anti-Muslims terrorism,

National Security Adviser Michael Flynn thinks Islamophobia is rational. CIA Director Michael Pompeo thinks the Iranian government is “about as democratic as that of Erdoğan — both are totalitarian Islamist dictatorships.” Frank Gaffrey, who was a key person in Trump’s transition team, is the one who has been labeling Obama as a “stealth Muslim,” and he is not against “radical Islam” – he is considered anti-Islam in American politics.

 

Clues pointing to the Gulen network in the Hrant Dink murder case?

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It has been ten years since the murder of Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink. Criminal proceedings against responsible officials are still ongoing. The public prosecutor believes there are links to the Gulen network.

Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was shot on January 19, 2007 on Istanbul’s streets. Dink was the editor of “Agos,” the only Armenian newspaper in Turkey.  Investigations into his murder have been running since February 2008. An underage nationalist, Ogün Samast, was convicted of the killing and sentenced to 22 years in 2011. Another ultranationalist, Yasin Hayal, considered to have pulled the strings, was sentenced to life behind bars.

Then the trials began of public officials who were charged with instigating the murder, or at least not preventing it. In the early years, the Istanbul attorney general believed that the “Ergenekon” organization was behind the murder. This group was accused of plotting a 2003-04 coup, and was the subject of a major set of trials in Turkey in 2013.

Nationalists suspected first, but now it’s Gulen

But now, at least according to the public prosecutor’s office, all clues in the Dink case are pointing to the government’s latest internal foes, the Gulen movement.

Turkey’s government accuses the Gulen movement of organizing illegally within the police, army and the education and legal systems for years; it blames them for last year’s failed coup attempt. Ankara has been aggressively pursuing alleged members of the movement. However, at the time of Dink’s assassination, the Gulen movement was still a close ally of the ruling AK Party.

Ten years on, all eyes are now on the latest court cases with their 35 defendants. They include the former police chief in Istanbul and former secret service members.

Hakan Bakırcıoglu is one of Hrant Dink’s lawyers. He said in an interview with DW that the investigations into the public officials by the Istanbul justice department are believed to have turned up important findings. These suggest that the perpetrator, Ogün Samast, had help from third parties, including people connected to the Istanbul and Trabzon police forces. “We believe that it is important that the full truth is revealed. That is why we will press this case until our legal avenues are exhausted.”

In the coming days defense pleas will be finalized. On top of that, statements from 30 witnesses will be taken down. Then the public prosecutor will finalize the indictment.

‘We want to live up to Dink’s ideals’

At the same time, the Armenian-Turkish newspaper Agos, founded by Dink, has been trying to stay in business despite financial problems. Editor Yetvart Danzikyan told DW about the last decade at the embattled paper. ” From day one, we have been trying to do justice to the struggle Dink led for peace and open dialogue.”

Danzikyan goes on to say that despite the difficult circumstances under which Agos is published, the newspaper hopes to show to society and government the dark powers behind Dink’s death. “Agos is able to exist thanks to the Armenian community. We survive from funds raised through small advertisements or subscriptions. We are read by Armenians in Armenia and also those in the diaspora. Despite everything, we will continue to be the voice of the Armenian community.”

‘Armenian issue is being exploited‘

Danzikyan says that the Armenian issue remains a dangerous and divisive one in Turkey. One example was when a representative of the pro-Kurdish HDP was banned from three parliamentary sittings because he used the term “genocide” in parliament. Danzikyan points out that the ruling AKP, the nationalist MHP and the more liberal opposition CHP all agreed on this punishment.

“It was not the first time Garo Paylan had used the term ‘genocide’ at the lectern,” Danzikyan recalls. “He had said it before. But, as you can see, such reactions are a result of the way the general atmosphere is at the moment. It’s also hard to believe that the AKP is really on the level with its actions regarding Armenians. It wasn’t in the case of the Kurdish conflict. Just like the Kurdish conflict, the Armenian issue gets exploited by the AKP to fit the current mood.”

Turkey dismisses 6,000 more workers over links to botched putsch

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Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest against a purge of thousands of education staff since an attempted coup in July, in front of the main campus of Istanbul University at Beyazit Square in Istanbul, Turkey, on November 3, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)

Turkey has expelled over 6,000 more police personnel, civil servants and academics as the government widens its crackdown on the opposition following the abortive mid-July 2016 coup.

According to a report published by Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News, Ankara issued three decrees under emergency rule on Friday, dismissing 2,687 police officers, 1,699 officials from the justice ministry, 838 civil servants from the health ministry, 649 academics and 135 officials from the religious affairs directorate.

On Tuesday, the Turkish parliament, dominated by the ruling Justice and Development Party, approved the three-month extension of the country’s state of emergency, which was initially implemented a few days after the coup aimed at toppling President Recep Tayyip Erdogan failed. It also increases the time that suspects can be detained without charges brought against them.

The government can use emergency rule to bypass parliament in introducing new laws and to restrict or suspend rights and freedoms when deemed necessary. Back in October, parliament had extended the state of emergency for a second three-month period.

The putsch began when a faction of the Turkish military declared that it had seized control of the country and the government of President Erdogan was no more in charge. It, however, was suppressed a few hours later, followed by Ankara’s heavy-handed crackdown on those deemed to have played a role in the attempt, which was blamed on the movement led by US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen. The Pennsylvania-based cleric, however, has categorically denied the allegation.

Over 240 people were killed on all sides during the hours that the coup attempt was underway.

More than 40,000 people have been arrested in Turkey on suspicions of having links to Gulen and the failed coup, while more than 100,000 have been sacked or suspended from work over the same accusations.

The crackdown has faced mounting criticism from government and rights campaigners, but Ankara says it will continue the purge to prevent a repetition of the attempt.

Turkey #RT_Erdogan orders detention of 380 businessmen links to Gulen & 11 Pro-Kurd HDP

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A Turkish soldier stands guard next to the courthouse as a vehicle transporting prisoners charged with involvement in the July 15 coup attempt passes on December 27, 2016 at Silivri District in Istanbul. (Photo by AFP)

Prosecutors in Turkey have ordered the detention of 380 businessmen suspected of assisting Fethullah Gulen, a US-based cleric who is accused by Ankara of having masterminded a coup attempt in the country in mid-July 2016.

The arrest warrants were issued on Thursday as prosecutors also demanded permissions for searches of houses and offices of the suspects, who were believed to have financially supported Gulen and his network in Turkey.

More than 40,000 people have been arrested in Turkey on suspicions of having links to Gulen and the Fake failed coup while more than 100,000 have been sacked or suspended from work over the same accusations.

Gulen, who runs a vast network of schools and cultural centers in Turkey and other Muslim countries, has categorically denied any role in the coup attempt, which claimed the lives of at least 240 people.

He warned in the summer that the accusations may be a ploy by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to tighten the grip on dissent.

Turkey has also been carrying out a severe crackdown on those believed to be linked to Kurdish militants operating in the country’s southeast.

The state-run Anadolu agency said Thursday that nine suspects, including two provincial officials of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), were remanded in custody by a court earlier in the day over alleged links to Kurdish militants.

The nine were among some 30 people arrested overnight, who included HDP Istanbul Provincial Chair Dogan Erbas and Vice Chair Aysel Guzel. The report said that 11 suspects were initially taken to court but nine were remanded in custody over terrorism-related charges. The two others were released under judicial court while legal procedures were continuing for the remaining 19 suspects, according to the report.