This is what the Gulenists believe deep down in their hearts. It is also why Turkish language and culture are always taught in the Gulen charter schools, why students are given subsidized, Gulenist-guided trips to Turkey, and why student participation in regional Turkish Olympiads is so strongly promoted.
However, you will be extremely hard pressed to find any reference to all of this Turkish instruction in any of their charter school applications. But that shouldn't matter! Everyone just needs to thank Fethullah Gulen for creating such a wonderful recipe for world peace!
Here's a new article about the Turkish Olympiads appearing in Zaman, a Gulenist-operated Turkish newspaper. Gulen is glorified four times.
“Turkish becomes language of peace thanks to Olympiads.” Sunday’s Zaman 26 June 2011*
When the 1st International Turkish Language Olympiads were launched in 2003 by Dilset, a publishing house, the goal was to reward students who excel in learning Turkish and to courage others.
Back then, 62 students from 17 countries took part in the event. Since 2006 the International Turkish Education Association (TÜRKÇEDER), a civil society organization, has undertaken the job of holding the Olympiads. Currently, the event continues in its ninth edition across Turkey with a boost in the number of participating nations and students. One thousand students representing 130 countries are taking part in the Olympiads this year...According to Tuncay Öztürk, the deputy chairman of TÜRKÇEDER and general secretary of the International Turkish Language Olympiads, the motive behind the event is to bring the youth of the world together for peace with an eventual goal of promoting world peace.Öztürk says the language of Turkish serves peace in the Olympiads. “Helping to build dialogue [DIALOGUE IS A GULENIST BUZZ WORD] bridges between the countries of the world is our goal. We thought it could be well achieved via Turkish. By building these bridges, we know them, and they know us,” he told Sunday’s Zaman.In general, the Olympiads can be seen as the reflection of “beautiful services,” including the Turkish schools opened by Turks, inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, around the world, Öztürk noted. “The Olympiads are part of efforts at dialogue and the schools’ efforts to promote love and peace in the world,” he added.Students who represent their countries are selected by local administrators. If the number of Olympiad contenders is high in a country, the students have to take part in competitions, and those coming in first earn a berth in the Turkey competition. After they arrive in the country, the students face another competition, this time to take part in the top contests, the song and poetry finals. A student from Tajikistan came first in the song contest and a student from Georgia won the poetry contest on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively......The Olympiads continue with their shows, and they will run through the closing ceremony on June 30 in İstanbul.“We started with 17 countries, now we have reached 130. There is a big demand [to host Olympiad shows] in Turkey. There is also demand from the world [to join the Olympiads]. The halls are not big enough to meet the demand in İstanbul and Ankara. We cannot meet the demand for invitations. Both the content and the expenses of the event get bigger every year,” Öztürk explained.Olympiads unite Turkey as wellNot only have the children of the world but Turkey also has been gathering under the umbrella of the Turkish Olympiads. Regardless of their worldviews, prominent artists, academics, journalists and public figures gathered at the Turkish Olympiads, a Gülen-inspired event. Among the guests and jury members at the song and poetry contests were producer Sinan Çetin, organizer Ahmet San, dancer Tan Sağtürk, producer Elif Dağdeviren and poets Yavuz Bülent Bakiler and Hilmi Yavuz. Meeting at the contests, they all thanked the organizers of the Olympiads and expressed their support.“The Olympiads turned into an event that is loved by everybody from every age,” Zaman Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı said in his article. “Maybe the value of the event is not perceived exactly, but future generations will understand it. As they [who do not understand the value of the Olympiads] see youths who are familiar with Turkish folkloric dance, literature and cuisine from around the world, they will appreciate it,” he added....
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These are just a few of the performances by American charter school students who competed in 2011 at various U.S. regional Turkish Olympiads. The winners of these preliminaries are very likely to be in Turkey attending the Gulenist pageant described in the article above. These U.S. charter schools exist to serve the goals of this foreign, cult-like religious movement.
A video of a Southeast USA preliminary. Note how Southern is spelled “Southearn.’ But I suppose it doesn’t matter since the English language holds little importance in the Gulenists’ dream of a gloriously pan-Turkic world.
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Children from Fulton Science Academy in Georgia competing at the Atlanta 2011 Turkish Olympiad Southeastern US sponsored by the Gulenist Istanbul Center.
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Child from Triad Math and Science Academy in North Carolina competing at the 2011 Turkish Olympiad Washington DC Finals sponsored by the Gulenist American Turkish Friendship Association.
More about this school's Gulen movement connections HERE.
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Children from School of Science and Technology in Texas competing at the 2011 Turkish Language Olympiad Southwest America sponsored by the Gulenist Raindrop Turkish House.
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Child from Paterson Charter School for Science and Technology in New Jersey competing at the 2011 Turkish Olympiad New York sponsored by the Turkish Cultural Center New York.
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Updates:
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Forget the
idea behind Esperanto. In the Gulenist mindset, it’s Turkish all the way.
“New slogan for Turkish Olympiads: One language, 7 billion people.” Zaman Amerika, 2/19/2011
The International Turkish Education Association (TÜRKÇEDER), which organizes a “Turkish language bayram” in Turkey every year, is busy making preparations for this year’s International Turkish Language Olympiads.The date for the ninth Olympiads has been confirmed, and three new competition categories have been opened. While 750 students from 120 countries participated in the Olympiads last year, 1,000 finalists from 130 countries will participate this year. Generally held between the end of May and the beginning of June, the event will fall on June 15-30 this year, due to the general elections on June 12.Last year’s slogan, “We are speaking the same language,” will be replaced with “One language, 7 billion people,” signifying the world uniting under one common language, while this year’s competitions will be held in Ankara, İstanbul, Konya and Bursa. Moreover, large-scale regional events will be organized in nearly 20 cities throughout Turkey. Turkey’s Kızılcahamam Asya Thermal Complex will again host the Turkish-speaking children of the world for the duration of their two-week stay.Categories added to the Olympiads this year include picture and sound as well as an essay competition for foreign students studying in Turkey, raising the number of categories to 20. The theme for the picture competition will be “respecting sacred values.”The difference between the new sound category and the singing competition is language. The songs in the singing competition will be in Turkish, while those in the sound category will be sung in students’ native tongues.10,000 students prepare each yearNoting that preparations for the Olympiads take a year worldwide, Secretary-General of the International Turkish Language Olympiads Tuncay Öztürk said that “approximately 10,000 students train for the Turkish Olympiads -- which attract increasing attention and recognition each year -- all learning Turkish under the supervision of teachers.”“Students, feeling the excitement of the Olympiads well before they reach Turkey, participate in closely contested qualifying rounds in order to make the finals,” he said. “Each student can only participate in the Olympiads once. Consequently, thousands of different students learn Turkish every year and gain a deeper understanding of our culture. A large number of participants watch these national finals from Turkey.”The Turkish Olympiads in Turkey are the finals. By organizing their own national competitions, each country selects its finalists and sends them to Turkey. Students who competed in Olympiads in the past cannot participate a second time. The website www.turkceolimpiyatlari.org provides detailed information about the Olympiads.
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From another of the many Zaman-published articles about the event: “Turkish Olympiads gets full score from the Turkish capital.” Sunday's Zaman 26 June 2011 (emphasis added)*
... State Minister Egemen Bağış stated: “I thank you all for your performances. We are touched by this every year and sometimes our eyes are filled with tears of joy. The Turkish language you are learning is spoken by 200 million people around the world. I congratulate your teachers, who moved thousands of kilometers away from their homes to teach you this language.”...Felicity Part (SP) leader Mustafa Kamalak, spoke to the participants, saying: “These are the things that the government does not have a hand in. When I see these children, I think that three figures should be understood better today: Bediüzzaman Said Nursi, Necmettin Erbakan and Fethullah Gülen. For this reason universities should be established in the names of these people.”...
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