The Republic of Turkey retains the international law firm of Amsterdam & Partners LLP for a series of advisory services, including leading a global investigation into the unlawful activities relating to the Fethullah Gulen organization.
“We have been retained by the Republic to expose allegedly unlawful conduct by the Gulen network worldwide,” said Robert Amsterdam, founding partner of Amsterdam & Partners LLP, during a press conference held today at the National Press Club in Washington DC. “The activities of the Gulen network, including its penetration of the Turkish judiciary and police, as well as its political lobbying abroad, should concern everyone who cares about the future of democracy in Turkey.”
The Gulen network, which operates more than 100 charter schools in the U.S., has become the subject of federal and local law enforcement and regulatory investigation in the United States, said Amsterdam. According to separate cases filed against Gulen affiliated schools, the group has allegedly engaged in systemic abuse of the American visa system, Amsterdam says.
Globally, the Gulen network operates thousands of schools. Amsterdam emphasized the need for transparency for the network’s operations around the world, including its agreement with the African Union to open 1,000 new schools in the region. “We cannot entrust an entire generation of children to a group that claims to uphold the ‘truth of light,’ yet is itself covered in darkness,” said Amsterdam.
To learn more about this case, read the book “Empire of Deceit” published by Robert Amsterdam which catalogues the unlawful activity and abuses of public education funds by the Gulen network of charter schools in the United States.