Republicans Approve Another Jihadi School in Texas

Despite facts and evidence presented to the board about the nefarious nature of Gulen schools and Soner Tarim’s leadership in this hostile Movement, TSBOE republicans paved the way for broader encroachment into the Lone Star State by these jihadis.

The final vote was 9-5 with seven (7) republicans voting for the jihadi schools and two (2) voting against. Two (2) democrats voted for the jihadi schools and three (3) voted against.

The seven (7) republicans who voted for these jihadi schools are Donna Bahorich (District 6), Barbara Cargill (District 8), Pat Hardy (District 11), Tom Maynard (District 10), Sue Melton-Malone (District 14), Ken Mercer (District 5), and Marty Rowley (District 15).

In 2019, shortly after UTT provided information to the TSBOE in a previous attempt by Soner Tarim to establish Gulen’s Royal Public Charter Schools, UTT published an article detailing the threat from the Gulen Movement in America. However, this year republicans on the TSBOE intentionally ignored the facts, and put Texans in grave danger by handing our adversaries exactly what they wanted.

What are some of the facts presented to the Texas State Board of Education (TSBOE) identifying Soner Tarim as hostile to the citizens of Texas?

• The Royal Public Charter School network is founded by Soner Tarim, the CEO and founder of the Harmony School network. Harmony is a direct subsidiary of Fethullah Gulen, a leader of an international Islamic jihadi Movement which has the same objective as Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, namely to establish a Global Islamic State under sharia (Islamic Law), through all means necessary, including violence. Fethullah Gulen resides in Pennsylvania and cannot return to Turkey because he would face arrest and trial for the attempted coup of Turkey’s President Erdogan. (Note: Gulen and Erdogan are both enemies of the United States and were previously colleagues. Now the struggle for who will have the power in Turkey is at the forefront of their relationship.)
• The board heard testimony that Tarim’s application for the Harmony School of Science in the year 2000 included his work at the Private Aziziye High School in Erzurum Turkey. However, his current application did not mention it. The reason for this may be found in the fact that weeks after the attempted coup against Turkish President Erdogan in 2016, the Aziziye High School was raided by Turkish security forces and damning evidence discovered. Turkish security forces “discovered a secret locked entry, two floors that housed secret meeting rooms, dormitory rooms, and a restaurant, as well as material relating to Fethullah Gulen’s Hizmet Movement, which has been designated a terrorist organization. After a trial, people went to jail.”

• In Tarim’s 2019 interview for his Royal Charter application, archived video shows him volunteering that he cannot go back to Turkey, but no one asked him why that is the case. UTT’s assessment is that Soner Tarim is a known supporter of Fethullah Gulen and will be arrested if he returns to Turkey.
• The Gulen network has fallen under numerous FBI investigations across the U.S. For example, in December 2013, the FBI raided a Gulen school in New Orleans, Louisiana.

No matter how well the Royal Public Charter School program is presented, at its root it is a dangerous and corrosive Movement school board officials
have a duty to reject out of hand for the safety of citizens in Texas.

But this time, TSBOE republicans served America’s enemies and not the citizens of Texas.

Texas has very strong state sedition laws. Title 5 of Texas Government Code, Subtitle A, Chapter 557, is entitled “Sedition, Sabotage, and Communism.” Subchapter A, “Sedition” reads:

Sec. 557.001. SEDITION. (a) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly:

(1) commits, attempts to commit, or conspires with one or more persons to commit an act intended to overthrow, destroy, or alter the constitutional form of government of this state or of any political subdivision of this state by force or violence;

(2) under circumstances that constitute a clear and present danger to the security of this state or a political subdivision of this state, advocates, advises, or teaches or conspires with one or more persons to advocate, advise, or teach a person to commit or attempt to commit an act described in Subdivision (1); or

(3) participates, with knowledge of the nature of the organization, in the management of an organization that engages in or attempts to engage in an act intended to overthrow, destroy, or alter the constitutional form of government of this state or of any political subdivision of this state by force or violence.

Those on the Texas State Board of Education who voted for the jihadi Fethullah Gulen Royal Public Charter Schools after hearing/reading the evidence presented to them, knowingly advanced the Gulen Movement, whose stated objective is the overthrow of un-Islamic governments and the enslavement of citizens to sharia (Islamic Law).

How is this not sedition to the Texas government and its Constitution?