Keyword: Education
Turkish school leaves tight quarters for spacious former Wayne corporate building
MINJAE PARK, STAFF WRITER Colorful desks and chairs fill the rooms, and lockers line the walls, but the campus of the ambitious Turkish school that moved to Wayne this year still looks a lot like the corporate offices it once was. The middle- and high-school students at the Pioneer Academy‘s remodeled 165,000-square-foot, $11 million building lug […]
[Hizmet’s] Prep schools and civilized debate
The prep-school debate has recently revisited Turkey’s agenda after periodically ebbing and flowing since the 1980s. For some time, the government has been mulling its plan to transform the prep schools. However, when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that they would shut down the prep schools, tensions skyrocketed.
Report claims government categorized schools linked to Hizmet
The Turkish government classified, categorized and monitored a number of educational institutions in some way linked to Hizmet, a faith-based movement inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, until 2010, a Turkish daily reported on Sunday. “After statements confirmed the document, not only did I feel shattered, I am left speechless,” Gülen said.
Row between Turkish government and Gulen Movement takes new twist
The row between Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and Fethullah Gulen’s Hizmet Movement, one of the most influential religious communities in the country, has taken an interesting twist after the revelation of a 2004 document. In 2004, the National Security Council proposed a clampdown on the Gulen movement (aka Hizmet), which suggested that harsh sanctions should be enforced on them.
KCK, Gülen, AKP: shifting alliances?
MUSTAFA GÜRBÜZ Regarding the heated prep school debate, Justice and Development Party (AKP) Ardahan Deputy Orhan Atalay explicitly spelled out the AKP- Gülen tension: “Just as the KCK [the Kurdistan Communities Union, an umbrella organization that contains the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)] is a parallel structure within the state; prep schools have become the same […]
The AKP, Gülen and Feb. 28 coup
İHSAN YILMAZ The Taraf daily uncovered a secret national security document which revealed that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government in 2004 signed on to a planned crackdown on the Hizmet (Gülen) movement. As Today’s Zaman reported on Thursday: “The Taraf daily published a document on Thursday prepared by the National Security Council [MGK] […]
When paths part…
ORHAN MİROĞLU The Hizmet movement and the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) have arrived at a critical junction in the road. The main problems that have emerged on the route towards this critical junction are of course not limited to the debates and disagreements surrounding the question of the closure of the prep schools. […]
Tip of the iceberg
BERİL DEDEOĞLU A significant allegation is circulating. Some people claim that the government wants to close prep schools because of a secret deal with the Kurds. They probably suggest that the Kurds are against the education institutions established by those close to Fethullah Gülen’s thinking, and they want to replace these prep schools with Kurdish […]
Did Erdoğan say ‘shut up’ to Gen. Eruygur?
EMRE USLU Liberal daily Taraf has published yet another document showing that the government, back in 2004, signed an agreement with the generals to fight the Gülen movement. The document outlined that the government agreed to prevent Gülen sympathizers from getting jobs in state institutions. Some political observers argue that the document shows that in […]
Should I not respond to those who want to strangle me?
HÜSEYİN GÜLERCE The move to close down prep schools is getting complicated. Things are going out of hand, and the discussions over this serious education issue are becoming less serious and more irrelevant. A Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy who is also a member of the education commission made a horrible remark comparing […]
Row between Turkish government and Gülen movement heats up with new document
The row between followers of the Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen’s movement of and the Turkish government took another dimension after a daily revealed Nov. 28 that a decision from the National Security Council (MGK) recommending an action plan against the Gülen movement be signed by the government in 2004.
Gülen urges Hizmet members to defend prep schools in civilized way
Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has urged followers of the Hizmet movement to insist on the “right and logical” and defend prep schools, which the Turkish government has said it will shut down despite tremendous public outrage. In a speech broadcast by herkul.org, a website that usually publishes his speeches, Gülen said not insisting on […]
The Shadow Politics of Shadow Education
It is no secret that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has grown wary of the so-called Gulen movement, a faith-based network centered on the charismatic preacher Fethullah Gulen that promotes a mild and modern understanding of Islam. Started in the 1960s, it now runs or influences, through its adherents, a large network of businesses, think tanks, newspapers and television stations — as well as a successful chain of tutorial colleges and private schools.
Turkish Twitter war over education
Plans to abolish “prep schools” in Turkey have sparked a huge feud between two of the country’s most powerful forces on the micro-blogging website Twitter. Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AK party have proposed eliminating the schools, which provide private tuition classes to help high school children prepare for university entrance exams. […]
