EDUCATION JIHAD SPREADS THROUGH HEARTLAND

by

Paul L. Williams, Ph.D.

A new Gulen Charter School is slated to open in Minnesota this September.

The Minnesota School of Science (MSS), a college preparatory public charter school serving students in grades K-5, has obtained the sponsorship of the Minnesota School Board.

The Minnesota School of Science will be operated by Concept Schools, Inc., an organization of Turkish Islamists who are affiliated with the radical Gulen movement, which seeks to establish a universal caliphate.

Concept Schools, which was founded by Taner Ertekin and Ehat Ercanli, claims to be a not-for-profit educational establishment. The organization operates 25 charter schools, including the chain of Horizon Science Academy schools, Chicago Math and Science Academy, the Noble Academy schools in Cleveland and Columbus, Indiana Math and Science Academy, Michigan Math and Science Academy, Quest Charter Academy in Illinois, and Gateway Science Academy in St. Louis. The administrators of these schools, by and large, are Turks who ties to Fethullah Gulen and many of the teachers – - even English instructors – - are imported from Turkey.

Concept Schools claims to be a not-for-profit entity. The organization has not filed federal income tax forms since 2006.

The new “Gulen-inspired” school, like the other 140+ Gulen charter schools, will be funded by U.S. tax-payers.

The Gulen schools are so subversive that they have been outlawed in such countries as Russia and Uzbekistan. The funding for these institutions has been curtailed in the Netherlands.

The schools – which fuel the Gulen movement – have been responsible for transformation of Turkey from a secular state into an Islamic country with 85,000 active mosques – one for every 350 citizens – the highest number per capita in the world, 90,000 imams, more imams than teachers and physicians – and thousands of state-run Islamic schools.

Many Americans might think of schools called “the Beehive Academy”,“the Chesapeake Science Point School” or “Sonoran Science Academy” as altruistic institutions that serve the common good of the American people, but names are deceptive and the Gulen movement operates under the Islamic principle of taqiyya or “holy deception.”

Fethullah Gulen, the 68-year-old founder of the schools and the movement, represents an embodiment of this principle. In his public statements, Gulen has espoused a liberal version of Sunni/Hanafi Islam by promoting the Muslim notion of hizmet – altruistic service to the common good. He has condemned terrorism, advocated interfaith dialogue, and met with such religious dignitaries as Pope John Paul II, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomeos, and Israeli Sephardic Head Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron.

In private, Gulen has stated that in order to reach the ideal Muslim society “every method and path is acceptable,[including] lying to people.”

Nurettin Veren, a top administrator of the Gulen schools says: “These schools are like shop windows. Recruitment and Islamization activities are carried out through night classes.”

Bayram Balcri, a leading Turkish scholar, writes:“Fethullah’s aim is the Islamization of Turkish nationality and the Turcification of Islam in foreign countries. Dozens of Fethullah’s ‘Turkish schools’ abroad – most of which are for boys – are used to covertly ‘convert,’ not so much ‘in school,’ but through direct proselytism ‘outside school. Gulen wants to revive the link between state, religion, and society.”

Gulen has the financial means to achieve this objective. His movement has amassed more than $25 billion in assets. And he works to topple governments, indoctrinated youth, and create the New Islamic World Order not from Islamabad or Istanbul but rather from his heavily guarded mountain fortress in Pennsylvania.

Neighbors who live near the mountain fortress have complained of automatic gunfire emanating from the 40 acre property and the presence of a surveillance helicopter.

The fortress is protected by a small army of Turkish guards.