Private schools leave mark on Science Olympiad


Date posted: May 6, 2015

İzmir’s private Yamanlar, Ankara’s private Samanyolu and İstanbul’s Fatih colleges all left their mark on the 20th National Antalya Mathematics Science Olympiad, organized for primary and secondary schools by Akdeniz University and held on May 3 and 4.

Yamanlar College ranked first among all competing schools, winning five gold medals, six silver and eight bronze. Attended by 700 students across the country, Samanyolu College won four gold and two silver medals, while Fatih College followed Samanyolu with two gold medals, one silver and one bronze in the math olympiad.

Akdeniz University Rector İsrafil Kurtcephe and İlham Aliyev, the university’s foreman, gave out the medals at the competition’s award ceremony, which took place at the university.

Yüksel Demir, one of the teachers of the winning students, said at the ceremony that these students are also representing Turkey abroad at the national team and they are also winners of numerous similar competitions organized by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK). He added: “I congratulate all of them on their achievements.”

However, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has conducted a smear campaign against the private schools on the grounds that they are linked to the Gülen movement, also known as the Hizmet movement, which is inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. Erdoğan has falsely accused the movement of plotting against and trying to bring down himself and the government.

Erdoğan has claimed that the movement is behind the revelation of the Dec. 17, 2013 graft scandal, which implicated high-ranking government officials, former ministers and Erdoğan’s inner circle, and launched a witch-hunt to eliminate all institutions linked to the movement.

Numerous foreign countries also host Turkish schools affiliated with the Gülen movement and Erdoğan’s repeated calls for the closure of these foreign schools have fallen on deaf ears and been rejected.

Erdoğan’s unrelenting denunciation of such schools and calls over the past two years for their break up are yet to yield any results. The schools are considered a source of national pride because of their contribution to improved educational chances to students in many countries such as Africa and Central Asia.

Source: Today's Zaman , May 06, 2015


Related News

Scandalous return of Feb. 28

Hizmet movement lent full support to the AK Party in connection with critical issues such as the lawsuits against Ergenekon — a clandestine organization nested within the state trying to overthrow or manipulate the democratically elected government — and the e-memorandum of April 27, 2007.

Teacher tortured to death by Turkish police found innocent, reinstated to job

Teacher Gökhan Açıkkollu, who was tortured to death while in police custody in the wake of a coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016 over alleged membership in the faith-based Gülen movement, was found innocent one-and-a-half years later and “reinstated” to his job.

Hizmet movement has no political ambitions

The Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), whose honorary chairman is well-respected Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, released a statement on its website on Thursday explaining the stance of the Hizmet [service] movement (also know as Gulen movement) inspired by Gülen as a civilian one with no political ambitions. The association’s statement comes in response to […]

Erdogan is transforming Turkey into a totalitarian prison

In Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the tweet has been turned into a crime, and a troubled democracy is being turned into a dictatorship. Gradually but inexorably, a nation that once aspired to be an exemplar of enlightened moderation is being transformed by Mr. Erdogan into a dreary totalitarian prison.

Erdoğan’s image in the West

Similar to what Erdogan did during the Gezi events, he is falsely accusing the Hizmet movement of being the puppet of these Western, Judeo-Christian enemies. His attempts to shut down YouTube and Twitter are telling enough for the democratic world.

Final declaration of the 33rd Abant Platform: “Turkey direction”

Participants in the 33rd Abant Platform, which ended on Sunday in the northwestern town of Akçakoca, agreed that Turkey has lost its direction in both its domestic and foreign policy, saying the way to rectify this is to restore its commitment to the accession process into the European Union and the rule of law at home.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Former director of Turkish schools in Pakistan and his family kidnapped

War on Gulen Movement undermines Turkish diplomacy

Behind the secret documents – Turkish government profiled a large number of individuals

‘Islam and I’

From Islamophobia to ‘Hizmet-phobia’

Turkish Cultural Center Hosts Food Drive

Erdoğan’s game plan for Hizmet

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News