Turkmenistan's New Challenges: Can Stability Co-exist with Reform? A Study of Gülen Schools in Central Asia, 1997–2007

Abstract

In the 1990s, Turkmenistan's government dismantled Soviet educational provision, replacing it with lower quality schooling. The Baskent Foundation schools represent the concerted efforts of teachers and sponsors to offer socially conscious education grounded in science and math with an international focus.

This case study of the Baskent Foundation schools in Turkmenistan establishes the vitality of Gülen schools outside of the Turkish Republic and their key role in offering Central Asian families an important choice in secular, general education. The paper discusses the appeal of the schools' curriculum to parents and students, and records a decade-long success both in educating students and in laying the foundations of civil society: in Turkmenistan the Gülen movement offers the only general education outside of state provision and control. This is particularly significant as most scholars deny that there is any semblance of civil society in Turkmenistan.

Notes: The author has been conducting interviews and recording the influence of Baskent schools in Turkmenistan since working as Instructor at the International Turkmen-Turk University in 1997. In May 2007 she visited the schools in the capital Ashgabat, and the northern province of Dasoguz, to explore further the contribution Gülen schools are making. The recent death of Turkmenistan's president will most likely result in major reforms in education. Documentation of how a shift at the centre of state power affects provincial Gülen schools will enrich this conference's broader discussion of the movement's social impact.

The history of Gülen-inspired schools in Central Asia reveals as much about the Gülen movement as it does about transition in the Muslim world. While acknowledging that transition in the 21^st century includes new political and global considerations, it must be viewed in a historical context that illustrates how change, renewal and questioning are longstanding inherent to Islamic tradition.

In the former Soviet Union, the Gülen movement contributed to the Muslim people's transition out of the communist experience. Since USSR fell in 1991, participants in Fethullah Gülen's spiritual movement have contributed to its mission by successfully building schools, offering English language courses for adults, and consciously supporting nascent civil society throughout Eurasia. Not only in Turkic speaking regions, but also as far as Mongolia and Southeast Asia, the so-called "Turkish schools" have succeeded in creating sustainable systems of private schools that offer quality education to ethnically and religiously diverse populations. The model is applicable on the whole; Gülen's movement has played a vital role in offering Eurasia's youth an alternative to state-sponsored schooling.^[1]

Recognition of the broad accomplishments of Gülen schools in Eurasia raises questions about how these schools function on a daily basis and how they have remained successful. What kind of world are they preparing students for? How do the schools differ from traditional Muslim schools (maktabs or madrasas)? Do they offer an alternative to Arab methods of learning?

Success in Turkmenistan is especially notable due to the dramatic politicization of education under nationalistic socio-cultural programmes in that Central Asian country. Since the establishment of the first boarding school, named after Turkish Prime Minister Turgut Ozal, in 1991 the Gülen schools have prospered despite Turkmenistan's extreme political conditions and severely weakened social systems. How did this network of foreign schools, connected to a faith-based movement, manage to flourish under Turkmenistan's capricious dictatorship? In essence, Gülen-inspired schools have been consistently successful in Turkmenistan because a secular curriculum partnered with a strong moral framework appeals to parents and students without threatening the state.^[2]

This hypothesis encourages further consideration of the cemaat's ethos and Gülen's philosophies such as the imperative of activism (aksiyon), the compatibility of Islam and modernity, and the high value Islamic traditions assign to education.^[3] Focusing on this particular set of "Turkish schools" in Turkmenistan provides details and data from which we can consider broader complexities of the movement as a whole. In particular, the study illustrates that current transitions in the Muslim world have long, complex histories that extend beyond today's immediate questions about Islam, modernity, or extremism.^[4]

Post-Soviet Turkmenistan

When Turkmenistan gained independence in 1991, adult literacy was near 99%. However, the educational system, left over from the Soviet-era, was utterly inadequate. School textbooks still featured the Bolshevik leader Lenin and university level institutes continued to rely on Russian vocabulary for technical, scientific, and medical studies. Curriculum content was neither current to the post-Soviet order nor free from Moscow's infl uence. Nevertheless, the institutions were in place and they functioned. Moreover, teachers and administrators were eager to continue their work. Despite all this, the new government's policies ruined the educational system as part of an anti-Soviet backlash that left stark voids in social and cultural spheres. Gülen schools played a major role in filling the instructional and institutional vacuums President Niyazow's programmes created.

From October 1991, when Turkmenistan gained independence and came under sole rule of Saparmurat Niyazow, until 11 February 2007, when Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedow assumed the presidency, Niyazow's personal whims governed the educational system.^[5] Instead of linking Turkmenistan to the larger world by building upon systems and personnel in place, President Niyazow reduced the educational system to a shell of what it had been during Soviet times. As part of his Milli Galkynys Hereketi the state cultivated policies to support the "Turkmenification" of social spheres that had been Russified during the Soviet era.^[6] The government dismantled Soviet education systems, replacing them with lower quality schools and curricula. Learning became tightly linked to nation building and Niyazow's ideology became codified with the introduction of his Ruhnama into the schools in 2002.^[7] Rather than move away from political ideology, which had saturated education during the Soviet Union, classroom content further weakened under the weight of Niyazow's cult of personality and state-controlled anti-Russian cultural programs. Moreover, classrooms became sites for ethnic discrimination. Turkmen displaced Russian as a language of instruction in schools; ethnic divisions permeated school lessons as state-employees who did not speak Turkmen- including teachers-were fired; and applications to institutes for higher education required students to identify their ancestry in a veiled attempt to keep non-Turkmen out of universities. Under Niyazow's leadership, the state-sponsored education system suffered from such acute deterioration that it threatened a generation of human capital in that country.^[8]

Turkmenistan's citizens felt as if they were moving backward and feared their children might become a "lost generation" rather than the "golden generation" or Altin Nesil as Niyazow labeled the post-Soviet youth.^[9] In interviews I conducted with parents between 2001-4, one of the most frequent unsolicited comments was that families wished to see Turkmenistan's educational system restored to Soviet levels-at a minimum.^[10] In later interviews, in 2006 and 2007, families continued to express this dissatisfaction despite the risk of speaking critically about the state with a foreigner.

It is both because of the extreme local conditions and the continuous success of the Turkish schools that Turkmenistan provides an edifying case study of the Gülen movement's contributions to Central Asian societies. The odds were against success, yet during the past decade, members of the Gülen community have offered Turkmenistan's youth the only means of attaining a quality education within that country. The details of the day-to-day administration and the consistently cooperative approach to dealing with the local government (typical of Gülen-schools everywhere) illustrate aspects of this school system that work well and make the system applicable outside of the Turkic speaking world.

Gülen Schools in Turkmenistan

In 1990 perestroika made it possible for Turkmenistan's Ministry of Education to begin formal discussions with Turkey's Baskent Educational Firm over the possibilities of cooperation in the educational sphere. This dialogue led to agreement to develop a network of Turkmen-Turkish schools in Turkmenistan.^[11] At the beginning of the 1991/92 academic yearthe Turkmen-Turkish Boarding School named after Turgut Özal opened in Asgabat. Two years later, in 1993/94 the network of joint Turkmen-Turkish boarding schools opened institutions in seven cities: Mary, Baýramali, Çarjew, Dasoguz, Nebitdag, Türkmenbasy and Könyaürgenç. Later that same year the network expanded to include an economic-tech-nical school (lise) in Ashgabat, boarding schools in Tejen, Büzmeýn, and Kerki, and the International Turkmen-Turkish University in Asgabat. In the 1997/98 school-year in Asgabat a new Turkish Center began offering courses in languages and computers, while a school for girls opened.^[12] The schools experienced near continuous expansion and unwavering political support from the Turkmen leadership, even after the death of the Turkish president Turgut Ozal who had played such an imperative role in bringing Turkish culture to post-Soviet central Asia.^[13]

The schools' curricula emphasized the natural sciences and mathematics. Languages played a major role in instruction as well as communication within the schools. Study of English, Turkish, Turkmen, and Russian languages was obligatory. Special attention was given to English for which preparatory classes were organized. Designed to reach talented and gifted children, the Gülen schools offered an education fairly typical to the locality, but with standards higher than in most public schools.^[14] The pedagogy is based on the program for private schools in Turkey in correspondence with the requirements of schools in Turkmenistan.^[15] In the earliest years, most teachers and staff traveled from Turkey out of their personal interest in the Gülen movement and a sense of dawah or mission.^[16] Some Turkish citizens worked in Central Asia because schools there afforded religious freedom they could not access in Turkey, such as wearing headscarves. Still others found good jobs with salaries that allowed for a comfortable life, especially considering the low-cost of living in the former Soviet Union in the 1990s. Local teachers, conducting courses in such subjects as Turkmen language, Russian language, and the history of Turkmenistan, sought out work in the Turkish schools for the high-level of pay as well as for better working conditions. These instructors received salaries at least three times that of teachers in Turkmenistan's public education system and many have maintained their positions over the past decade.^[17]

Finances

The schools cover expenses with monies received from Turkey, primarily Ankara, or from Turkish businesses in Turkmenistan.^[18] The school administration had initially intended to take care of costs down to the clothing of the students; each pupil receives a uniform, shoes, and sports clothes.^[19] In fact, some students receive full scholarships, some pay nominal fees, and others pay tuition in the range of $1000 per year.^[20] According to Lester Kurtz, the movement has mobilized and involved prominent intellectuals and even set up a non-interest bearing bank-with $125 million capital-Asya Finans, to promote economic development in the Turkish-speaking Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union.^[21]

The Bashkent Educational Firm (Baskent Egitim Sirket) is the Gülen community's financial and administrative umbrella organization in Turkmenistan. The Baskent Bilim Merkezi (Baskent Educational Center) is the Gülen community's administrative and pedagogical center. The Center also houses space for youth interaction that is typically filled with young people spending free time with friends, playing table tennis, or using computers-an important offering in the days before the internet cafes of 2007. Locals refer to the Center as "Baskent" or the "Turkish Center" by association with language and identity of the teachers. Nevertheless, Baskent operates as an independent administrative and legal entity certifi ed in Turkmenistan by that state.

Funded and staffed by members of the cemaat, Baskent opened a university in 1993/4 and began to build primary and secondary schools around the country.^[22] Baskent has maintained the schools, 11 departments within 3 colleges (fakultet) at the university, and the Center itself, which offers 5 courses in foreign languages and computers. Since the earliest days of Turkmenistan's independence, the Center has offered English language classes for a nominal fee. At that time, the office and classroom occupied a small rented space, which though located near the center of the city, was hidden behind the old Soviet Circus. It was a challenge to find. Today, Baskent offices occupy a large building to house all of the classes, administrative offices, and social spaces. Located on a main street in Turkmenistan's capital city Asgabat, its accessibility and its good reputation doubtlessly encourage the young people who drop in and the adults attending night courses in English.

Baskent's schools and students in have grown in number consistently. In 1997/98 there were 13 schools in Turkmenistan with 3,294 students. In 2006/07 those numbers had grown respectively to 16 schools and 5,250 students.^[23] Moreover, the local population recognizes these schools as the best alternative form of education in Turkmenistan. Every year 9-10,000 students compete for 750 places. At the university 4,000 applications were submitted for 200 places. In the first ten years the elementary schools graduated 2,803 pupils, the language and computer program awarded 10,710 certificates, and more than 500 students have graduated from the International Turkmen-Turkish University.^[24] This consistent growth is due both to the administration of the institutions, as well as to Turkmenistan's citizens' ever-increasing interest in enrolling their children in superior schools.

Publicity and Growth

How was the cemaat able to advertise their new schools in a country without a free press? They began by sending representatives to visit schools to announce the entrance exams. Soon word of mouth among families was enough to build the reputation of the schools among the populace.^[25] A few years later, the newspaper Zaman began publishing a Turkish-Turkmen language version in Asgabat. Today it has that country's highest subscription rate for a peri-odical.^[26]Zaman originated in Istanbul and is today printed separately in a handful of countries with a cemaat presence. For those who cannot obtain print copies, an electronic version of the Istanbul issue is accessible via the Internet. It announces local and international news, local school events and happenings within the Turkish school system, such as the scheduling of university entrance exams. A method for combining news and promoting the schools is to publish articles about such prestigious student events as a competition of language sponsored by Baskent and the Turkish and Afghanistan embassies' cultural attaches.^[27]

The reputation of the Turkish schools is their most powerful form of advertisement and recruitment. In conversations with graduates of the Turkmen-Turkish University I asked how Turkmen people generally perceive a graduate of a Turkish school. They explained that they encounter some envy because they have had opportunities that are available to only a handful of the young population. Knowledge of English and Turkish, as well as Russian and Turkmen, make them competitive on the job market. Graduates from state schools may have studied one or two of these languages, or may know a smattering of each, but that cannot compare with the level of acquisition the Turkish schools' programs provide. Moreover, graduates reported that they are viewed as trustworthy and dependable because of the strict discipline of the Gülen schools. Any parent should be instilling a sense of terbiýä (upbringing) in their children, but it is never guaranteed that they do. A degree from a Turkish school certifies that the individual has been introduced to the traditional concepts of adab (enlightenment, culture, etiquette) and terbiýä, in addition to having received an internationally recognized education.^[28]

If there is one aspect of the Baskent schools that is foreign to Turkmen students it is the gender separation in middle schools and the university. While Turkmen do practice separation of the sexes during religious events and some family gatherings, it is not typical of their modern educational spaces. Despite this, no one named it as a reason to avoid Baskent schools.^[29]

There are families that will not send their children to the Turkish schools, or have even removed them from the schools, due to a perceived influence of Islam on the students. Some parents have complained that their children suddenly developed an interest in visiting the mosque or "developed a more religious attitude."^[30] Even though there are no explicit lessons about Islam, "implicit cues about their Islamic orientation" can be detected in the behavior of teachers and in cultural programs on campuses.^[31] This handful of dissatisfi ed families saw in the model living of teachers or in terbiye degree of spirituality that they could not reconcile with their expectations of secular education. Despite this minority attitude, a far greater number of families wish to enroll their children in the Turkish schools, even families who are not Muslim.^[32]

Measuring Spiritual Influence

The Gülen schools have been successful in terms of education, but the extent of their spiritual influence is difficult to measure. Parents respect the Turkish schools for providing a broad curriculum with high standards, and they appreciate the technical advantages of these well-funded institutions and the level of discipline extolled by committed teachers. However, Turkmen families choose to send students to these schools not in search of Islamic enlightenment but as a means of gaining qualifications for employment.^[33]

While independence in 1991 allowed for a surge in religious practice, Turkmenistan did not re-establish an Islamic-based system of public education like that which existed prior to their incorporation into the Russian empire.^[34] Rather, the government took steps to ensure that an official Islam, one overseen and limited by the state, was the public Islam. Firstly, academics and government officials replaced the Cyrillic script with a Latin-based alphabet rather than an Arabic-based writing system, thus separating them symbolically as modern or westward looking. Secondly, around the country citizens raised their own funds to build mosques in cities and villages, but prayer remained primarily a private pursuit in the home. Thirdly, a few madrasas (Islamic colleges) reopened in the earliest years of independence, but secular schooling remained the primary source for general education. Lastly, Islamic rituals were revived or practiced once again in public, but at no point did anyone suggest the state adopt more Islamic approaches. The thirst for spiritual growth and general education did not overlap explicitly.^[35] Appreciative of secular, Soviet education, both citizens and the state eagerly maintained the separation between public education and Islam. Thus, in Turkmenistan, lessons with religious content are found only in a limited number of places such as the Ylahyýet fakultet at Magtumguly State University or in private classes that meet in mosques or the homes of Islamic scholars (mollas, ahuns). With an obvious interest in maintaining a separation between secular education and religion, how do Turkmen reconcile that view with the fact that the cemaat's mission is rooted in Islam?

Turkmen parents view general education not as a means for spiritual development, but as path to getting a job. They expect schools to impart knowledge that will allow citizens to function in globalized or international society. Any contradiction between this conceptualization of education and the Gülen movement's faith-based goals is superseded by the fact that the Turkish educational institutions provide the best educational opportunity in Turkmenistan. Ultimately, Turkmen families do make allowances for an overlap between secular enlightenment and Gülen's faith-based initiative in acknowledging that education guided by a moral framework (terbiýä) would provide their children with better material opportunities. In that respect their expectations fit well with Gülen's belief that a good Muslim is one who is committed to the world. He clarifies this intersection of education and material advancement in today's world.

I encouraged people to serve the country in particular, and humanity in general, through education. I called them to help the state educate and raise people by opening schools. Ignorance is defeated through education; poverty through work and the possession of capital; and internal schism and separatism through unity, dialogue, and tolerance.^[36]

One of the Turkmen assistant principals asserted the practical aspect of the schools' curricula saying, we need 'know how' for the development of our country. Those schools provide hope for us in achieving our purposes, because they train qualified people who are familiar with universal standards."^[37]

Making the Global Local: Gülen School's Adaptability to Local Contexts

In each country, the cemaat creates a "network" of schools.^[38] This term does not imply that a singular overarching association or administration governs the members and schools around the world. Gülen inspires his followers. He is the teacher (Hocaefendi) and the author of influential writings, but there is no single formal entity to which the schools are responsible. Each school must consider local political and social conditions when creating a curriculum, admitting students, even in choosing the languages of instruction. For example, in Turkmenistan the Russian language was a part of all Gülen schools' curriculum until 2003, when Turkmenistan's president decreed that Russian should no longer be a language of instruction in schools. According to a former teacher, President Niyazow made an official announcement and the schools complied.^[39] While the Turkish schools pride themselves on teaching foreign languages-indeed it is a fundamental aspect of Gülen's philosophy-they adhered to the policy immediately. Yet in Kazakhstan, where the tone is far less nationalistic, Russian remains in the Turkish schools. While a driving principle of the schools and related media is to encourage the spread of English (the international language of technology) and Turkish (language of the founder and most adherents) local languages demonstrate the move-ment's "state-oriented" inclination to work within systems.^[40] The adaptability the Gülen system allows it to flourish beyond the Turkic language world. Moreover, the schools can be, and are, located in countries without a Muslim majority. There are as yet no schools in Arab speaking countries, but the flexible nature of the model makes it at least theoretically possible to use the Gülen educational system in any country.

Hakan Yavuz describes the "movement" as a "loose network system" consisting primarily of shared values as well as methods of teaching and organizing schools, for example, drawing teachers and administrators from within the core community, relying on similar texts and curricula, and the concept of a teacher living as a model. Each set of schools is organized separately within a particular country, in cooperation with that country's government, and is funded through a locally established company or foundation. The sources of funding are critical clues to demonstrating the independence of each school system. Businessmen living in Kazakhstan provide financial support to the Kazakh-Türk Egitim Vakfi which then oversees the institutions in that country. Monies from schools in the Balkans are not shared with those in Kyrgyzstan. In Turkmenistan it is the Baskent Bilim Sirketi (Bashkent Educational Firm) that organizes funding, while successful businessmen (isadami and esnaf) fund the movement and its schools.^[41] Donations to such foundations allow the middle class to contribute to the shaping of society, fulfill an act of piety (zakat), and aid in building an active community. Turks living abroad, in Central Asia for example, also assist in the creation of schools at which their children can receive a quality education.

The firms or foundations represent the concerted efforts of teachers and sponsors to offer socially conscious education grounded in teaching modern sciences (talim) with an international focus. Yet course offerings do not include religious instruction. "Gülen's group differentiates itself from other Islamic movements by stressing the importance of ethics in education and the business world."^[42]

These schools don't give religious education or encompass educational activities with a religious environment Activities take place within the framework of each country's current laws and educational philosophy. For example, in Uzbekistan, after students learn Turkish and English in the preparatory class, they study science in English from Turkish teachers and social subjects in Uzbek from Uzbek teachers. Giving religious knowledge or religious education is not the goal.^[43]

The aim of the schools is not to teach religion per se, but to stress such values as community service (hizmet) and ethics (ahlak), which are seen as "unifying factors between different religious, ethnic, and political orientations."^[44]Terbiýä (character building) is critical to raising good Muslims and is the principal concept by which the schools are organized. Using the phrase "bilim we terbiýä" no less than eight times in a single presentation, Seyit Embel, the Chair of the Baskent Educational Center in Asgabat wrote that "enlightenment and character building are the main aims" of the combined Turkmen and Turkish efforts.^[45]

The underlying methodology of conveying terbiýä has been for the teachers to embody spiritual ideals and impart them through model living (temsil).^[46] Gülen has addressed this methodology writing, those who lead the way must set a good example for their followers. Just as they are imitated in their virtues and good morals, so do their bad and improper actions and attitudes leave indelible marks upon those who follow them.^[47]

Teachers, administrators and sponsors follow Fethullah Gülen's example of teaching students how to live a life deeply rooted both in Islam and in the modern scientific world via educa-tion.^[48] Model living covers a range of moral behavior such as restraint from smoking, drinking, or gambling.^[49] Teachers make themselves available to students outside of school.^[50] After school activities (sports, movies, lectures) and informal relations with staff are designed to encourage character building. Women's reading circles meet in the homes of families to allow for congregation and study. These typically involve the mothers and older women in the Turkish community, but students and local mothers are welcome.

Throughout Central Asia the Gülen schools play an important role in fledgling civil societies in that they operate outside of the state. They offer opportunities for social interaction and experimentation such as student newspapers, women's reading circles, film festivals (in Turkmenistan all cinemas were shut down in 2002), study abroad programs and use of the internet. Most importantly, these private schools offer families a choice in education. One difference between the schools in Central Asia and some other regions-South Asia for ex-ample-is that former Soviet regions had high literacy rates but little opportunity for civil society building.^[51] In Turkmenistan, a country with arguably the most seriously deficient education policy in the region and one of the worst records on allowances for civil society, the contributions of the Gülen movement are especially impressive. Moreover, because of deficiencies within Turkmenistan's educational system, the graduates of the Turkish schools in Turkmenistan are the only youth in a generation to receive a high-school education that meets international standards.^[52]

Another aspect of the Gülen schools in Turkmenistan that sheds light on the movement more broadly is the community's interaction with that country's government. Until recently, it was understood that Turkish businessmen often contributed to the financing of these schools in Turkmenistan as a necessary step in the bidding process for contracts with that Niyazow's government. "It was understood during the trip that Turkmen officials stipulate that businessmen first make a financial contribution to the Turkish high schools in order to be able to win contracts from the Turkmenistan government."^[53] This comments perhaps more on Niyazow's methods of governing than it does on the Gülen schools more generally. It does illustrate the "state-oriented" nature of the movement. The privileged place of Turkish businessmen in Turkmenistan has continued under the new presidency of Gurbanguly Berdymukhmedow in Turkmenistan engaging that state has meant actually placing Turkish members of the ce-maat in high-level government positions. Muammer Turkyilmaz, Turkmenistan's Deputy Education Minister (Turkmenistan Bilim Ministerligiň Orunbasar) and Seyit Embel, Head of the Bashkent Educational Center (Baskent Bilim Merkeziniň Bas Ugrukdyryjysy), have been critical to Baskent's success and demonstrate the movement's adaptability. In the initial years Turks held most administrative posts. As part of Turkmenistan's Milli Galkynys Hereketi (National Revival Movement) President Niyazow mandated in 2004 that only ethnic Turkmen could be heads of schools. Today the Rector of the International Turkmen-Turkish University is an ethnic Turkmen as are the principals of the schools. Turks occupy only assistant principal or secondary administrative positions. However, Embel and Türkyilmaz remain in their positions demonstrating that there is flexibility in the relationship with the state. In fact, in March 2007 the new president of Turkmenistan, Berdymuhammedow, confirmed the state's appreciation of Türkyilmaz's work in Turkmenistan by reappointing him as Deputy Minister of Education.^[54] Overall, the cemaat's success owes much to a long-term view of its goals and its avoidance of postures that could be interpreted by local authorities as antagonistic. As Hakan Yavuz and other scholars have indicated, this modus vivendi is seen not only in Turkmenistan, but also in the movement's approach globally.^[55]

Conclusion

Professor John Esposito writes that today's ummah is engaged in a process of "Islamisation or re-Islamisation." That is, they seek ways to apply "Islamic principles and values to personal and public life."^[56] While the Muslim community may today be experiencing a transition, it is not the ummah's first encounter with change. Introspection, debate, reform (ijtihad), and renewal (tajdid) are natural and historically significant aspects of Islam. Since its inception the Muslim community has debated such questions as how the community would be shaped, whether it was acceptable to borrow aspects of other cultures, or how they could live as Muslims in the material, modernizing world. Scholars view the Gülen movement as part of this tradition, calling it "neo-ijtihad" or "search for a middle way."^[57]

The Gülen movement strives to demonstrate the compatibility of Islam and modernity through intellectual and spiritual pursuits. Calls for "Aksiyon" and morality based living have encouraged followers who are motivated to actively pursue charitable roles in building successful Muslim societies. The Gülen schools are a manifestation of that motivation.^[58] The Gülen school system has been successful in so many different countries because of its flexibility and adaptability to local conditions.

Any contributions of the Gülen movement must be measured not only according to the standards of the movement, but also to the relative conditions of each specific locality in which members expand the cemaat, as well as within a historical context. Overall, the Gülen schools in Central Asia are comparable to Gülen schools around the world.^[59] With the exception of occasional foreigners teaching languages or locals teaching social subjects, teachers are hired from within the predominantly Turkish cemaat or from among the schools own graduates. The privately-funded schools remain independent of any state but do adhere to legal and educational requirements of the host countries; curricula are based on integrating quality education, emphasizing science and languages, with terbiýä (upbringing within a moral framework); and religion is never part of curricula. Graduates play a great role in staffing the schools and Turkish businessmen make up the majority of donors.

This case study of the schools in Turkmenistan illustrates how Gülen's philosophy plays out in situ. While a vital part of a faith-based movement, it is critical to acknowledge that Güleninspired schools offer families a choice in secular education thereby making contributions to civil society building as well as education. Turkmenistan's parents feel that their children receive better education, through high quality teaching, including use of Turkish, English, and Russian, in addition to the local language.^[60] They also note that the Turkish schools are better equipped than state schools and have more advanced facilities (comfortable dormitories, good cafeterias, access to technology).^[61]

Muslim and non-Muslim families want high quality education that is not politicized and remains secular. States want institutions to respect their authority. The government in Uzbekistan closed the 18 Gülen schools there as well as the Turkish state schools. The atmosphere in Kyrgyzstan is simply more tolerant and allows for diversity in education. The Kyrgyz-Turkish schools sponsored by the Sebat Company have grown from 12 to 15 from 1997-2007.^[62] In Kazakhstan the schools have played a role in the population's hunger to revive a Turco-Islamic heritage that was weakened by its Soviet experience. The Foundation for Kazak-Turkish Education (Kazak-Turk Egitim Vakfi) acts as both a cultural center and an organization of civil society.^[63] Turkmenistan's government has kept the schools on a short leash but it nevertheless allows them to operate as long as they pay homage to the state. This works because Turkish administrators attend Turkmen state functions and a small percentage of the curriculum gives the obligatory nod to state demands, such as including Niyazow's writings in coursework.

Baskent schools continue to function in Turkmenistan because the cemaat preserves a modern, secular curriculum content, takes an unobtrusive approach to imparting terbiýä, and does not threaten the state, but rather engages it. In offering a quality education based in foreign languages (English, Turkish, Russian, and local) and natural sciences, the Gülen Movement provides Turkmenistan's youth an opportunity to prepare themselves as citizens of the new (post-Soviet) world order.^[64] The success of these private, foreign schools, founded on Islamic values (terbiye, ahlak, adab) in a country where state-controlled, political idolatry had supplanted pedagogy, is perhaps the Gülen movement's greatest accomplishment in Eurasia.

• PDF version of this article can be found at http://gulenconference.org.uk/userfiles/file/Proceedings/Prcd%20-%20Clement,%20V.pdf

• "Muslim World in Transition: Contributions of the Gülen Movement" Conference Web Site

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