The Turkish Language Institute is part of the Pacifica Institute for Turkish cultural "understanding", they are part of the lobbying that works with the Western American Turkic Council to prep up local politicians with free trips, honors, campaign contributions, etc.,
Pacifica Institute has about 8 offices on the west coast or contact people, Their main office in Tustin, CA shares a space with the Accord Institute which manages all of the Charter schools on the West Coast owned/operated by known followers of the Gulen Movement.
They are instrumental in the Anatolian Festival, Turkish Olympiads that the Gulen Charter Schools participate in and other Gulen Institute talks.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Gulen Schools, FBI penetrates Bay Area Cultural Connections
"By exploiting the good faith of Muslim groups and their members, the FBI is undermining community support for the government's legitimate law enforcement activities," Mike German, the ACLU's senior policy counsel and a former FBI agent, said in a statement.
The FBI labeled information collected from its "mosque outreach" program as "positive intelligence" and disseminated it to other agencies, "placing the people and organizations involved at risk of greater law enforcement scrutiny as potential national security threats," the ACLU said in a statement.
Bay Area Cultural Connections is another Gulenist operated “cultural club” bringing Turkish Culture to the community and schools. They work in California along with Pacifica Institute, Willow Education, Magnolia Education, Gulen Institute and others Gulen front groups. Are they money laundering American tax money intended for education?
Gulen Connection in California, San Diego where it all started
Just in time for the final stretch of San Diego's race for mayor, the CBS news magazine 60 Minutes is airing a report this coming Sunday about a controversial Turkish spiritual leader, followers of whom, records show, have contributed money to the mayoral campaign of Democratic congressman Bob Filner.
The Muslim scholar, Fethullah Gulen, leads a worldwide movement that has been heavily involved in creating high-tech charter schools around the world and has both backers and detractors.
As we reported in March of last year, Filner visited Turkey in late December 2010, courtesy of a nonprofit corporation called the Pacifica Institute:
"Highlights, according to the itinerary, included a stop at Topkapi Palace, lunch at Sultan Ahmet Square, a visit to the Karakoy Jewish Foundation Museum, capturing '700 years of amiable relations between Jews and Turks,' and a December 25 shopping tour of the Grand Bazaar, 'one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with more than 58 covered streets and over 1200 shops.… Many of the stalls in the bazaar are grouped by type of goods, with special areas for leather coats, gold jewelry and the like.'"
Filner took another tour paid for by Pacifica, this one with stops in Istanbul and northern Iraq, in April 2011, according to a travel disclosure he filed with the House a year ago this month.
That trip was said to be worth a total of $3,700, the filing said.
The congressman subsequently wielded a pair of scissors at the 2011 ribbon-cutting for the new Washington headquarters of the Turkic American Alliance, an event videoed and posted on the group's YouTube page.
California Congressman Bob Filner, who had just returned to the US after a TAA-sponsored trip to Turkey, indicated that the nature of the relationship between Turkey and the US has changed as it was a more military-based tie before," according to a description of the event on YouTube.
"'Now we have to have a people-to-people relationship,' Filner said, adding, 'What you [the TAA] are doing is extremely important, and that is establishing real people-to-people talk.'"
Also in 2011, Filner was featured at a Gulen Institute-sponsored essay awards ceremony for college students, according to the movement's website.
Mayoral campaign finance disclosure data posted online by the San Diego city clerk show that on February 21 of this year Ilker Yildiz of Irvine, listed as "outreach coordinator" for Pacifica, gave Filner's campaign $200; Ferdi M. Ates of Tarzana, California, Pacifica's chief financial officer, gave the Filner bid a total of $400 last June.
(Pacifica's role in Gulen's outreach is chronicled by UC Santa Barbara history professor Nancy Gallagher in her January 2012 book, "The Gulen Hizmet Movement and Its Transnational Activities: Case Studies of Altruistic Activism in Contemporary Islam.")
On February 29, Mesut Inci, branch director of Pacifica's Mira Mesa offices in San Diego, contributed $100 to the Filner cause.
In a video posted last year on the People's Post website, Inci talks about his life's work and inspiration, and Gulen's role in the Pacifica Institute.
"There was a man who inspired me...His name is Fethullah Gulen," Inci says in the video.
Reached at Pacifica's offices today, Inci confirmed he had made the campaign contribution reported by Filner, then said he was too busy to discuss the matter further.
Inci said he would call back within an hour, but did not. We'll update here when he does.
(UPDATE: Inci has called back to say that though he was aware of Filner's Pacifica-sponsored tours of Turkey and Iraq, nobody with the institute had asked him to make a contribution to the congressman's mayoral campaign. The Pacifica branch director says he was motivated to contribute because he liked Filner's position on various local issues.)
READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE:
Gulen Charter School Magnolia Science Academy to expand into Milpitas, CA
Lets play the Gulen Shuffle and create demand and urgency for a school where there is none. The school district should vet that waiting list. Our bet it is a majority of Gulen families, and some of the kids are not even of school age.
The Sal Cracolice Building, the former Milpitas senior center and a current site for city-run recreation classes, could be the setting for a new privately-run school that teaches math, science and technology.
Milpitas City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize the city manager to begin negotiating a three-year lease agreement with Magnolia Charter Academy Public School for use of the Sal Cracolice Building and adjacent modular buildings at 540 S. Abel St.
Felix Reliford, the city's interim planning director, told the council if Magnolia is approved for the site it may only be temporary.
"Until they can find a permanent location in the city," Reliford said.
Tim Saka, a Magnolia principal, indicated his private charter school specializes in teaching science, math and technology to sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students.
Saka added Magnolia schools typically had a uniform policy; offered small classes (25 students maximum); offered after school and Saturday tutoring classes; and provided its students exposure to math and science competitions around the state.
"So there's a big demand for our school," he said.
The Magnolia Educational and Research Foundation is a non-profit organization that established its first charter school in California's San Fernando Valley in 2002. Magnolia Foundation has 12 locations throughout California including a new location in Santa Clara. Magnolia is planning to open another school in East San Jose.
Magnolia's administration reported approximately 100 Milpitas parents have submitted applications for their children to attend the school, which seeks to open this August.
On May 22, the council's land use and transportation subcommittee reviewed and approved the proposal, then directed staff to forward their recommendation to the full city council.
The subcommittee also directed staff to conduct community outreach meetings with residents of Luna and Terra Serena (homeowner associations south and across the street from U.S Postal Service office) and the Starlite Pines Homeowners Association.
According to Reliford, city staff contacted all three homeowner associations and requested to be placed on their next meeting agendas. He added those meetings would likely occur by late June.
City staff reported Magnolia charter school would be required to seek approval from Milpitas Unified School District to operate at the site.
If the Milpitas school district does not grant permission, the school would not be under the school special district designation regulated by the state and would be subject to city zoning and land use requirements. Therefore, a conditional use permit would be required by the city's zoning ordinance.
In addition, the city is in the process of having an appraisal assessment of the property (lease and for-sale) to determine the appropriate costs, if the building is leased out.
Prior to the meeting, Reliford said potential city revenues by having the charter school at the Sal Cracolice Building would not be known until after the property appraisal is complete.
City Manager Tom Williams said by August the Magnolia charter school item would likely be brought back for the council's final review and approval regarding lease rates for use of the Sal Cracolice Building.
Contact Ian Bauer at ibauer@themilpitaspost.com or 408-262-2454. Visit us on our social media sites at facebook.com/milpitas post and twitter.com/milpitaspost.
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