Schools' backers say Islamic ties pose no threat

He did his own research, talked to teachers and students, and decided to stay.

“I was so impressed with the administrators, who happen to be Turkish, who happen to be Muslim, that I don't worry,” said Mikell, an associate professor of biology at Oklahoma Christian University. “I feel very comfortable. I have never had any fragment of an idea that they were trying to convert anyone to anything.”

Mikell's children attend Dove Science Academy Elementary, an Oklahoma City charter school funded with state tax dollars, run by a nonprofit organization, and free to students admitted through a lottery.

It is one of four Oklahoma charter schools run by the nonprofit Sky Foundation, which was founded in 2000 by five graduate students at Oklahoma State University. Most were members of the Turkish Student Association. In 2009, Sky Foundation reported nearly $8 million in revenue.

More than 120 charter schools nationwide were founded by Turkish nationals, beginning in 1999. The schools have excelled academically. They also have brought thousands of workers into the country on temporary visas.

And today the schools are part of a brewing controversy that touches on religion, Middle Eastern politics, the growing school choice movement and immigration.

Mikell said none of the controversy matters when he considers the outstanding education his children are receiving, tuition-free, at the Oklahoma City school.

At the center is Fethullah Gulen, a 70-year-old Turkish Muslim philosopher who preaches peace, interfaith cooperation, democracy and an emphasis on science and math.

From his current home — described as a retreat or compound in Pennsylvania — Gulen also promotes his brand of volunteerism that has inspired countless people throughout the world.

Social scientists, who have researched the Gulen Movement, claim there are millions of followers around the world and thousands of Gulen-inspired schools.

Meanwhile, a vocal and active group of bloggers is working to prove that the charter schools in America — founded and run predominately by Turkish men — are in fact a network of schools doing the bidding of Gulen and obscuring the true purpose of the schools: to promote the movement and to help bring Gulen followers to the U.S.