Learning to love Turkey

Update on February 1, 2011

PLEASE NOTE: Since the original time of this posting last year, one video in this entry has been removed from YouTube by its user, and another has been made "private." Over the past several months -- ever since awareness about the ties between the Gulen movement and their charter schools have been brought to the attention of the American public -- it has been noticed that more and more of previously posted online content (videos, photos, board minutes, etc.) has been removed.

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It is likely that neither the prospective parents, nor the people who authorized the petitions of these charter schools, were notified by the founders and administrators about how students would be trained and encouraged to participate in these major activities. It is also likely that most community members don't grasp the fact that there could possibly be a deeper significance about all these American charter school students performing at annual "Turkish Olympiads."

Student training takes place in Turkish language classes and afterschool clubs. It is unknown who is providing the elaborate, glamorous costumes and travel expenses to the various regional Turkish language events. At these charter schools, trips to Turkey and other Turkish activities are routine throughout the year, although the strong Turkish emphasis will not appear written into the language of the original charter school petitions.

Above: Students from Hampden Charter School of Science (Chicopee, Massachusetts).
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Above: Students from Horizon Science Academy – Cleveland Middle School (Cleveland, Ohio).
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Above: Students from Dove Science Academy Elementary (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma).
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Above: Students from River City Science Academy (Jacksonville, Florida).
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Above: Students from Beehive Science and Technology Academy (Salt Lake City, Utah), Sonoran Science Academy (multiple schools in Arizona), Magnolia Science Academy (multiple schools in California), Coral Science Academy (multiple schools in Nevada), and Bay Area Technology School (Oakland, California).

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Above: Students from Syracuse Academy of Science (Syracuse, New York)
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Above: Students from the Georgia and Florida charter schools competing in the Southeast Turkish Olympiad finals in Atlanta.

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Above: Students from the School of Science & Technology (San Antonio, Texas)
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Above: Winners from the regional Turkish Olympiads held around the world compete at the International Turkish Olympiad in Turkey. Note: hayal = n. dream, fantasy, etc., edin = v. obtain, acquire, etc.

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From the official Web site of the International Turkish Olympiad: "...from our land the power of the Turkish language would spread throughout the world.”

Read more about the Hizmet volunteers who are fanning out to schools across the globe to work as Gulen missionaries so they can teach children how to do these things in Pioneering Turkish Teachers Realize Long-sought Dream, May 31, 2009, Sunday’s Zaman (a Gulenist publication)

Marking the seventh year of this event, the International Turkish Olympiads is just one of the fruits of the tireless work of self-sacrificing teachers who have moved to different parts of the world, being inspired by the well-known Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, widely considered to be one of the most influential thinkers alive today.
Having witnessed the harmony between the students of those 115 participating countries, despite the fact that they are competing against each other for first place in one of the 14 different categories all requiring mastery in Turkish, one cannot but agree that if global peace is going to be a reality one day, its existence will owe a great deal to those who incessantly communicate their transcendent love, which does not recognize borders or discriminate against anyone.
Walking among those students without even uttering a word, it is impossible not to see the beauty they form together. Students coming from Nigeria, the UK, Yemen, the US, Mexico, Tajikistan, Australia and 108 other countries around the world, hand-in-hand, are the perfect assurance for a better tomorrow… What about the friendship between Iraqi Sazgar Darabek from Sulaimaniya Girls College and American Denise Stacy Uraias from Texas Science Academy?…
The fatigue and pain that needed to be contended with in order for these teachers to deliver a fruitful outcome cannot be underestimated. They made the sacrifice of moving to countries far from Turkey that most of their fellow countrymen have never even heard of and where the climates are not so pleasant…
…Each year, contestants are selected from every country where there is at least one Turkish school by a jury of teachers working at that particular institution...

These Gulen charter schools are not interested in giving their students an exposure to a broad range of nationalities and languages. They are interested in teaching them to develop a love for Turkey.

YouTube contains many, many more videos.