In Netherlans court orders parents to stop calling De Roos primary a terrorist school
Date posted: September 16, 2016
Judges in Haarlem have banned four mothers from calling an Islamic primary school in Zaanstad a ‘terrorist’ school.
The school authorities went to court in an effort to stop parents who support Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan from using social media to say the school supports Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen. Ankara blames Gülen from this summer’s failed military coup.
Some 150 children have been pulled out of the De Roos school since the online campaign against it started. A number of teachers have also left and the school has lost a large amount of its funding.
People who press ahead with saying the school supports terrorism face a fine of €1,000 with a maximum of €10,000. However, parents can continue to describe the school as a Gülen school and do not have to give up their Whatsapp group, the court said in its ruling. The school board denies it has any connection with the Gülen movement.
US assures private schools are under legal protection against closure
Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC) Executive Director Mark Gibb has said no one, not even President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has the authority to close down Turkish schools in the US in response to the Turkish government’s bid to close down schools opened by entrepreneurs affiliated with the faith-based Gülen movement, which is also known as the Hizmet movement.
Why do they lie about Fethullah Gülen?
There are two major allegations that are currently employed in the United States by Gülen opponents in order to discredit and cause fear mongering about him: One that the charter schools opened in various states by Turkish-Americans are connected to Gülen, and that they are spreading “Islamic fundamentalism.
Fethullah Gulen: “If the allegations are proved, I agree to return to Turkey”
If some were under the influence of interventionist culture of the army and preferred to trample the values of Hizmet with this reflex – which I do not think – their sins can not be attributed to all supporters of the movement. May God punish them. Nobody, including me, is above the law. I wish that all perpetrators, regardless of their affiliation, are sentenced to what they deserve through fair trial.
Gülen movement’s silent majority
After all, it is not difficult to understand that the reasons pushing so many people so far from home have been a love of service and a love of their own country. During the course of my travels, I also had the chance to meet a few of the teachers dedicated to their service and to teaching in these schools. Most of them had sacrificed some of their own opportunities so that they could simply contribute to the schools at which they are working.
An American’s journey into a Hizmet school in Turkey
One thing I haven’t mentioned is the fact that the school engages with the families of all its students, and that fact was evident in the way the students engaged with their teachers and each other. I have never seen a bunch of adolescent girls with such nice manners, warm self-confidence and eagerness to learn and succeed.
Moldova Rights Activists Target Erdogan at Football Match
Moldovan rights activists used a football match with Turkey on Tuesday to stage a brief protest against the highly controversial extradition to Turkey in 2018 of seven teachers.
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