Job Discussion Forums

[justme]

Isn't the Zaman newspaper ownership somehow related to Fetullah G�len and my former place of employment (Fatih �)? Fatih � isn't related to ET, neither the school nor the loveable alien. It's possible ET's owners are into the whole Fetullah/Nurcu movement, but so are lots of people, here and abroad.

And many of them have successful businesses, and for what it's worth my husband thinks it's all a big conspiracy too, though he doesn't worry about the ET part so much. It could be that his notion of the Big International (But Especially In Turkey) Fetullah Spy and Sabatuer Conspiracy has led me to think Fatih and Zaman are related. That, and most teachers at Fatih had Zaman delivered to their offices daily, and aside from sports newspapers and assignment-related TDN, it was the only newspaper to be seen on Fatih's campus. WHich doesn't mean anything. Islamist-leaning or not, it may be the best paper here for international news, and the writing is the most believable and least sensationalistic, IMHO...

Then again a lot of people here believe there are secret jihad training camps on Fatih's campus, so at some point the whole conspiracy thing about this becomes absolutely ridiculous.

[misterkodak]

I dunno. I've worked for one of those fethullah fanclub schools. Actually, they were the most dishonest school I've worked for in my entire time here. They used to have "meetings" in the auditorium after school hours. Of course, it was invitation only. If they're "innocent" and "have nothing to hide" , then why all the secrecy? There were alot of shady things going on that I never really stuck my nose into. The "extra lessons" after school for the middle school and the girls wearing headscarves (again after school). I wish I had now. The manager of the school got fired beacuse they failed to observe the 3 minutes of silence or whatever on Ataturk's death anniversary. During a brief discussion in the teacher's room, one of the teachers compared Ataturk to Hitler. I wasn't amused. I'm not a big fan of politics or religion. The two combined are dangerous. The salaks still owe me money.
Just out of curiosity, where do these people get their money? I mean the capital they had to start all this craziness? Who are the backers of "The Time Group"? Why do the beardie weardies and the headscarvers seem to gravitate to ET? Very interesting!

[runeman]

Doctor in a Helicopter wrote about the schools of Fethi Simsek:

[justme]

I always assumed Papa was a (ahem) poppy farmer. That seems to be the general lore, anyway...

[molly farquharson]

government bees? whatever they are, i am sure they are responsible.

[molly farquharson]

he got his money from the tried and true make money and put it back into the business.

geez. there are a lot of paranoiacs here.

[Henry_Cowell]

[Baba Alex]

I'm not sure how you all interpret the information given here, but from what I can understand....


ENGLISH TIME ARE BASICALLY ADMITTING THAT THEY ARE ENCOURAGING CHILDREN OF A SCHOOL AGE TO TAKE HEROIN

[tararu]

Yes and they are also collaborating in the planned alien invasion from Mars.

[Golightly]

[Doctor on a Helicopter]

The point is Mr Fethi Simsek and his partner Mr Orhan Ozbey own 150 schools including Doga Koleji, Okyanus Koleji, K�lt�r Dershanesi, Fatih Dershanesi, Dersanem Dershanesi, English Time, G�kdil, Edu Time, Inter Academy, Interlang, Dogu Dilleri, and Secura G�venlik (I understand this one is not a language school, but it trains and provides personnel who can use firearms). Maybe this is not a big deal, but why deny it in the first place? If you were unaware of this, you could have asked your boss beforehand.

Secondly, the free distribution of Zaman newspaper at ET schools is out of order to say the least, that it has a strong political bias for the radical Islam and also because it has recently been warned by the Press Council of Turkey, because they are constantly lying about their circulation.

Thirdly, I don't know whether you are legally employed or illegally employed like most of the foreign teaching staff, I don't think it's ethical to hire teachers with a promise of getting a work permit and not keeping this promise. (I'm not mentioning teachers' contracts because they say they aren't worth the paper they are written on.)

[molly farquharson]

no they own several schools with many branches. I never denied it, but let's get it right.

what is the big deal about Zaman being distributed? Would y'all be raising a stink if it had been Cumhuriyet? Or Istanbul TimeOut? have you actually read Zaman or Today's Zaman? I have been reading Zaman occasionally for a few years and I did not find it particularly islamic and i could give a rip about whether they lie about their circulation or not.

our owners are conservative men. however, they do not put their religious beliefs on others beyond how they conduct themselves. They are not liars or thieves or radical fundamentalist frothing at the mouth capitalists. They are successful in building a large company. They run their schools the same way other schools are run, but probably better than most. as i have said before, of course there are some things that can be improved.

not everyone has a good experience at english time-- or dilko or deulcom or any of the others. that's how life is in many realms. unfortunately the people who like working at english time don't bother to look on this forum because there is so much whinging here. one of the few is coffeespoonman, who offered a very balanced approach (though i still think he is wrong about taksim). i wish there were more of a balanced appproach here...

[runeman]

Incidentally, Molly, as a DOS, responsible for the authorisation of the notorious English Time course-books, renowned for straightening out every little jot and tittle of the students' compositions, you might take more care of your own postings.

Capital letters are generally still required at the beginning of sentences, and 'I', referring to oneself is also still capitalised, as well as proper nouns such as 'Islam'.

[calsimsek]

Molly:

[molly farquharson]

REALLY RUNEMAN? I HAD NO IDEA. THANK YOU FOR THE LESSON. IS THIS BETTER?