Category Archives: News
City of Tallahassee Planning Commission Mulls Vote on Controversial Charter School with Ties to Turkish Islamic Cleric
By Taniel Koushakjian
FLArmenians Political Contributor
October 1, 2013
TALLAHASSEE, FL – The Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing today on a proposal to build a controversial charter school, Stars Middle School, at 3607 Thomasville Road in Tallahassee, reported FLArmenians.com. Stars Middle School is part of an international network of Muslim schools operated by the “Gulen Movement,” a reference to the cult-like nature of followers of Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen. An Islamic political figure, author and religious scholar, Gulen is a Turkish citizen who has lived in self-imposed exile in the Poconos Mountains of Pennsylvania since 1998.
Although the process in Tallahassee is currently held up due to the school’s inability to file the necessary paperwork, the current controversy surrounding the city proposal has centered on community concerns of traffic impacts, safety, and city zoning jurisdictions, according to a report by WCTV. The Planning Commission has received over 200 calls and emails in petition to the proposed school, WCTV says. However, a closer look at the shadowy network reveals a deeper process at play, most likely unknown to Tallahassee city officials or residents.
THE MOVEMENT IN AMERICA
The Gulen movement’s network of schools can be found in a dozen countries across the globe. Here in the United States, the Gulen movement – a network of Turkish and Azerbaijani businessman, scientists, engineers, and Islamic religious figures – has propped up 140 schools in 26 states. Texas tops the list with 40 Gulen-connected schools, followed by Ohio with 30. However, the schools have been had difficulty in some states, such as Arizona and Utah, where financial troubles, shady business dealings, and revelations of genocide denial have prompted citizen advocacy groups, teachers and parents to question their merits.
A parent of a student at Sonoran Academy, a Gulen school in Arizona, told the Tucson Weekly, “We found one document, in Turkish, that talks about the purpose of these charter schools,” says the parent. “They refer to them very explicitly as schools (belonging) to their movement. They’re calculating, and they say if they can have something like 600 schools, then every year, they can produce 120,000 sympathizers for Turkey.”
“I sent my kids to this school because I wanted them to meet regular Muslims and to see them as ordinary people,” she says. “But when I find that my kids are to be turned into genocide-deniers, that’s very disturbing to me,” the parent told Tucson Weekly.
The parent, who spoke to the newspaper on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, was referencing the 1915 Ottoman Turkish Genocide of 1.5 million Christian Armenians in World War I. Over 20 countries and 43 U.S. states recognize the Armenian Genocide, as does a host of respected historians, such as the International Association of Genocide Scholars, the ultimate academic authority on the Holocaust and genocide.
In Utah, Beehive Science & Technology charter school faced multiple issues. Muhammet “Frank” Erdogan, a Muslim from Azerbaijan and the principal of Beehive, was the center of controversy when he “questioned conventional accounts” of the Holocaust and fired a teacher for not revising the lesson plan on World War II, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. Beehive was ultimately shut down because it “continuously failed to meet ‘accepted standards of fiscal management,’” according to the Desert News. “This is a case of chronic business mismanagement,” Brian Allen, chairman of the Utah State Charter School Board told the Desert News, after the school lost thousands of dollars.
One of the main problems is that the Gulen schools are funded by U.S. taxpayers, to the tune of millions of dollars in some states. Furthermore, the Gulen schools spend those American tax dollars to bring teachers over from Turkey, paying all legal and immigration costs, as well as their salaries. Even when American teachers are hired, they are typically paid less than their Turkish counterparts.
Florida has its history with Gulen schools too. Last year, Daily Broward reported that Riverside Science Academy had hired Broward County Democratic Party Chairman Mitchell Caesar to lobby the Broward County School Board on its behalf. The proposal for Riverside Science Academy in Margate did not materialize, as the necessary paperwork was also not filed in time.
The Gulen network’s rise has caught the attention of federal authorities as well. In 2011, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the charter school network and their leader, Fethullah Gulen, were under federal investigation by the FBI and Department of Labor. Although he resides in Pennsylvania, citizens there have pushed back as well. In July of this year, locals held a protest in Saylorsburg, PA to “Stop the World’s Most Dangerous Islamist.” Another slogan of the protest reads “Stop Cheating of American Taxpayers.”
“I’d be shocked if Floridians knew the true intentions behind these schools and willingly opened their wallets to pay for their construction and for non-U.S. citizens to come to America and teach Holocaust denial to our kids,” stated Margaret Atayants, FLArmenians Tallahassee Officer.
TALLAHASSEE PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING TONIGHT
The Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Commission hearing is set to take place today, October 1, 2013, at 6:00 PM at Tallahassee City Hall, Second Floor. The proposal for Stars Middle School, Ordinance Number 13-Z-26, is scheduled for debate this evening, according to the Commission’s website. The website also includes a recommendation below the proposal to adopt the ordinance and approve building the Gulen school in Tallahassee. However, a spokesman for the Commission informed FLArmenians on the morning of the hearing that debate on this issue has been continued to the November 5th meeting.
***UPDATE – The Tallahassee Planning Commission continued debate on the ordinance to the following meeting on Tuesday, November 5, 2013 at 6:00 PM. The status of the ordinance is not yet clear. However, the recommendation to adopt the proposal has been removed from the Commission’s website.
Floridians are encouraged to call and/or email the Tallahassee City Planning Commission, as well as Tallahassee Mayor John Brooks, and voice their opposition to “Ordinance Number 13-Z-27,” a proposal to build the Gulen-linked Stars Middle School in Tallahassee.
OPPOSE ORDINANCE NO. 13-Z-27
City of Tallahassee Planning Commission
– Call (850) 891-6400 and/or Email by clicking here.
Tallahassee Mayor John Brooks
– Call (850) 891-8181 and/or Email by clicking here.
Florida’s tax dollars need to be spent wisely, not on mysterious charter schools run by an Islamic cleric in Pennsylvania. There are plenty of qualified teachers here in Florida.
This story was updated at 12:25 PM on Wednesday, October 2, 2013 to reflect the postponement of the hearing.
Florida Armenians Remember Congressman E. Clay Shaw, Jr.
( Sun Sentinel / File ) U.S. Rep. E. Clay Shaw, Fort Lauderdale delegate, 1983 Republican National Convention in an August 29, 1983 official portait. Shaw: 1981-2007 member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida’s 22nd District.
By Taniel Koushakjian
FLArmenians Political Contributor
Florida Armenians (FLArmenians) mourn the loss of Congressman E. Clay Shaw, Jr. (R-FL), who passed away on Tuesday, September 10, 2013 after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 74. A former mayor of Ft. Lauderdale, Shaw began his 26-year tenure in Congress in the 1980 election that saw a wave of Republicans elected to office, most notably President Ronald Reagan. He served in the 22nd District, covering the coastal parts of Broward and Palm Beach Counties, until 2006 when he lost a tough re-election battle to Democrat Ron Klein.
A friend of Armenia, in the early 1990’s Rep. Shaw was a strong supporter of Armenia’s independence from the Soviet Union. He would later cosponsor legislation reaffirming the U.S. record on the Armenian Genocide and was a member of the Congressional Armenian Caucus, according to the Armenian Assembly of America.
The Sun-Sentinel’s Anthony Mann, William E. Gibson and Brittany Wallman echoed Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL), who now holds the seat, in their obituary headline rightfully remembering Shaw as ‘a great statesman’ of a bygone era in American politics. “For many years in Congress, Shaw quietly served his constituents behind the scenes and avoided controversy. But as he gained seniority, he became a force on the House Ways and Means Committee and grabbed national attention in 1996 by chairing a subcommittee that drafted a sweeping welfare reform law,” they wrote. I highly recommend reading their column in full, available here.
A memorial service honoring the life of former Congressman E. Clay Shaw, Jr. has been set for Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013, at 11:30 AM at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, 901 NE Second Street, in Fort Lauderdale.
In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that a donation in memory of Congressman Shaw be made to the Lung Cancer Alliance, P.O. Box 418372, Boston, MA 02241-8372, or online at www.lungcanceralliance.org.
Couple Stranded by Cruise in Turkey Receives Outpouring of Support
Dodge Melkonian, 89, is in an Istanbul hospital with his wife, Jill, 65. Turkish tour operator Okan Kutlu, right, donated blood so Dodge could get surgery on his broken hip. Courtesy of Hasan Capraz for Tampa Bay Times.
Monday, August 26, 2013 7:56 PM
Brittany Alana Davis, Staff Writer
Tampa Bay Times
CLEARWATER — A Clearwater couple is finally getting help in an American hospital in Turkey after Royal Caribbean cruise lines abandoned them at a rural hospital, leaving them with only hand gestures and guidebook Turkish to try to arrange surgery for a broken hip.
Dodge Melkonian, an 89-year-old World War II veteran and businessman, is now recovering at an American hospital in Istanbul, where he eventually was transported for hip surgery.
The procedure’s success was only possible, said his wife, Jill Melkonian, 65, because of two persistent Palm Harbor travel agents and a Turkish tour guide who befriended the couple and even donated his blood for the surgery.
(ALSO on FLArmenians: Armenians and the Purple Heart)
Jill Melkonian emailed the Tampa Bay Times from Turkey on Monday to say the hospital food is delicious, the Turkish people are “heartwarming and kind” and the visit has been full of “unexpected beautiful moments.”
A real estate agent, Melkonian said she and her husband have visited nearly 200 countries and intend to keep traveling despite the difficulties they’ve endured in the last week.
Their international saga began Aug. 19, a day after they departed on a 12-day cruise to Ukraine, Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Bulgaria and other countries through Azamara, a Royal Caribbean subsidiary.
They got the free trip after their cabin caught fire on a previous Royal Caribbean cruise to southeast Asia in March 2012.
At 1:30 a.m. Aug. 19, Dodge Melkonian rose from bed and stumbled in the dark.
The ship’s doctor diagnosed him with a broken hip, and the cruise line transported the husband and wife to Bartin, a rural province in northern Turkey on the Black Sea. The hospital there had no intensive care unit, and it was clear they needed to move elsewhere.
Jill Melkonian and others tried to get her husband transferred by helicopter, but Royal Caribbean and On Call International, the travel insurance company that offers insurance for the cruise line, delayed.
Friends arranged for a government ambulance, but On Call intervened and insisted on using its own ambulance, arriving more than 24 hours later to pick up the couple for a seven-hour ride over rugged roads.
The ambulance had no doctor or nurse. And by the time they arrived in Istanbul, Dodge Melkonian’s pills were not enough to shut out the pain.
As of Monday, On Call still hadn’t put in writing how much of the medical costs it will cover.
Royal Caribbean and On Call International did not respond to multiple phone calls and emails from the Times on Sunday and Monday.
The incident has inspired an outpouring of love and support from friends and strangers in Turkey and the United States even as it has raised the ire of critics of the cruise and insurance industries.
Dodge Melkonian, an active member of the Clearwater Evening Lions Club, got a visit Monday from a member of the Lions Club in Istanbul.
And travel agents Tammy Levent and Judy Sontag of Elite Travel Management Group in Palm Harbor have also thrown their support behind their clients, contacting the U.S. State Department, Gov. Rick Scott and Sen. Bill Nelson.
Nelson, who contacted the American Embassy in Turkey, called the incident “outrageous.” And Levent said she’s talking with Nelson’s office about drafting a law that would ban cruise lines from leaving people stranded.
“Where is the humanity in that?” she said. “There is no accountability, and that has to change.”
Levent and Sontag contacted Turkish tour operator Okan Kutlu of TSC Travel, who has spent the past week haggling with the insurance company, the cruise line, the U.S. Embassy and the Turkish government on behalf of the Melkonians. He translates for the couple and visits them every day after he finishes work at 7 p.m.
And it was Kutlu’s A-positive blood donation that made it possible for Melkonian to get the surgery.
Jill Melkonian calls Kutlu “an angel,” but he’s clearly modest.
“They do not know anybody else in the country with same blood type,” said Kutlu, who said the mixing of blood symbolizes “that all mankind has the same creation, even if we are from different nations, religions, cultures and speak different languages.”
He said Melkonian is in a lot of pain and has a fever but smiles a lot and keeps his spirits up.
In the meantime, Jill Melkonian said, the nurses at the hospital love her husband and are giving him “lots of hugs.” The doctor told him he has the “health and body of a man 30 years younger,” she said.
Any setbacks, she said, were only the result of the length of time it took to get treatment.
“He is trying very hard to be a good patient,” she said. “But he is a very proud man and very independent.”
**UPDATE**
Cruise Line Agrees to Pay Medical Bills for Passenger Stranded in Turkey
Tuesday, August 27, 2013 3:49 PM
By Brittany Alana Davis, Staff Writer
CLEARWATER — Under pressure from media reports and blasted by U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, Royal Caribbean cruise line has agreed to pay “any medical bills not covered by insurance” for an injured 89-year-old man abandoned by the cruise line in Turkey.
Dodge Melkonian of Clearwater, who bought medical insurance coverage through the cruise’s travel insurance partner, On Call International, broke his hip Aug. 19, one day into a 12-day cruise. The cruise line left Melkonian and his wife, Jill, 65, at a rural Turkish hospital that had no intensive care unit.
Pain-ridden, Melkonian waited 24 hours before an insurance-issued ambulance with no doctor or nurse transferred him to an American hospital in Istanbul.
The insurance company also told the couple they would have to front the money for medical treatment.
Two travel agents with Elite Travel Management Group in Palm Harbor promoted the story to the news media and contacted several elected officials to try to help the Melkonians, their clients. They also contacted a Turkish tour guide to help the couple as a translator. He ended up donating his own blood so Melkonian could get hip surgery.
Royal Caribbean executive Dr. Arthur Diskin, who oversees global medical care for the cruise line, emailed Jill Melkonian on Tuesday and promised to pay any medical bills not covered by insurance.
“Our customarily strong support was not up to the standard you deserve,” the email stated. “Although medical situations produce anxiety and stress, especially when they occur away from home, I regret that we weren’t more successful in minimizing these inherent difficulties for you and Mr. Melkonian.
“The focus continues to be on Mr. Melkonian’s and your well-being; arranging your travel home; helping you plan for follow-up care; and easing your logistical and financial concerns,” the email continued.
Melkonian is feverish but is getting “lots of hugs” from nurses while he recovers from his surgery, Jill Melkonian said Monday.
Brittany Alana Davis can be reached at (727) 445-4155 or bdavis@tampabay.com.
This article originally appeared on the Tampa Bay Times and is reprinted with the permission of the author.
Florida Armenians 