Every continent but Antarctica: the numbers
How many Gulen schools are there?  In how many countries?

Page created October 2, 2011  Last updated Feb 26, 2012
by C.A.S.I.L.I.P.S. - Citizens Against Special Interest Lobbying in Public Schools   CASILIPS on Twitter, slideshare

Many news and academic sources have given estimates of the number of Gulen schools worldwide.  None of these sources explains how the estimate was arrived at, or gives a list of the schools.  The one exception is the book by Bayram Balci, "Missionnaires de l'Islam en Asie centrale : Les écoles turques de Fethullah Gulen" (Missionaries of Islam in Central Asia: The Turkish schools of Fethullah Gulen), which lists the names of the schools, but only in Central Asian countries.

It is noteworthy that researchers cannot seem to agree on the estimates of how many Gulen schools there are, in how many countries, etc.  Yet it is clear from articles published by Gulenist news sources such as Zaman or Cihan News, as well as from statements on some school websites, that the Gulenists themselves are keeping count.  Thus, the fact that the general public does not have access to the precise numbers is not because "nobody knows;" rather it is due entirely to the secrecy of the Gulen Movement. 

More material will be added to this page in the near future.


Number of countries with Gulen schools

To date, this website itself has identified 94 countries with Gulen schools.

Date	Number	Source
Sep 2011	115	“Almost 115 countries around the world we have more than one thousand five hundred affiliated schools, which fallow [sic] the same ideas.” Website of ICAD Foundation, running Fountain International School in Philippines http://www.icad.org.ph/
June 2011	130	Türkçe Olimpiyatları Antakya´da yapıldı “Bugün onurla söylüyoruz ki 130 ülkede Türk okulları ile Türkçe konuşuyor ve Türk kültürünü dünyaya tanıtıyoruz” (Today we are honored to say that there are Turkish schools in 130 countries where we introduce the Turkish language and culture to the world.)
April 2010	120	UMT News, University of Management and Technology, Pakistan http://www.umt.edu.pk/events_gallery/events10/Seminar-Civic-Mov/index.html “More than 1000 schools and 20 universities in over 120 countries of the world in five continents offer education inspired by the teachings of Gulen.”
2010	100	Book: The Gulen Movement: A Sociological Analysis of a Civic Movement Rooted in Moderate Islam by Helen Rose Ebaugh “Today, the Gulen-inspired movement has over 1,000 schools in 100 countries on 5 continents.”
Feb 2010	140	Фетхуллах Гюлен: Ислам и демократия. Все права одинаково важны, и право одного человека... 03.02.2010 “По его инициативе в 140 страах [sic] мира действуют лицеи, школы и университеты, деятельность которых направлена на реализацию идей мыслителя.” (Through his initiative, high schools, schools and universities, the operation of which is guided by the thinker’s ideas, are active in 140 countries of the world.”
2004	52	Başkan, Filiz “The Fethullah Gülen community: Contribution or barrier to the consolidation of democracy in Turkey?” Middle Eastern Studies, 41: 6, 849 - 861 “Moreover, his supporters established more than 200 schools in 52 countries in five continents with his encouragement.”
Oct 2001	52	Hurriyet Daily News, "Six of the 400 schools opened by the followers of Turkish Schoolar [sic] Fethullah Gulen in 52 countries were in Afghanistan" http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid=438&n=why-did-the-taliban-who-call-themselves-seekers-of-knowledge-close-down-the-modern-education-turkish-schools-2001-10-01

Number of Gulen schools in the world

It is unclear whether these estimates are supposed to include the Gulen schools inside Turkey.
Another point of ambiguity is whether only K-12 schools are counted, or whether supplementary education institutions (study halls, homework centers, etc) are included.

Date	Number	Source
Sep 2011	>1500	“Almost 115 countries around the world we have more than one thousand five hundred affiliated schools, which fallow [sic] the same ideas.” Website of ICAD Foundation, running Fountain International School in Philippines http://www.icad.org.ph/
July 2011	300	http://www.derwesten.de/nrz/niederrhein/Duisburger-Bildungsverein-soll-der-Guelen-Bewegung-nahestehen-id4871554.html "Weltweit betreibt das Bildungsnetzwerk um Fethullah Gülen rund 300 Schulen, mindestens 12 davon in Deutschland, unter anderem in Berlin, Köln und Wuppertal." Translation: "Worldwide the educational network of Fethullah Gulen runs around 300 schools, at least 12 of which are in Germany including Berlin, Koln and Wuppertal."
2010	1000	Book: The Gulen Movement: A Sociological Analysis of a Civic Movement Rooted in Moderate Islam by Helen Rose Ebaugh “Today, the Gulen-inspired movement has over 1,000 schools in 100 countries on 5 continents.”
June 2010	>800	“Mișcarea Gülen deține peste 800 de școli…” [Romanian] Translation: “The Gulen Movement has over 800 schools…” From June 4, 2010 article “Umbra lui Gülen” [The Shadow of Gulen] by Laura Sitaru in Foreign Policy’s Romanian edition http://www.adevarul.ro/international/foreign_policy/Umbra_lui_Gulen_0_274173103.html
Oct 2001	400	Hurriyet Daily News, "Six of the 400 schools opened by the followers of Turkish Schoolar [sic] Fethullah Gulen in 52 countries were in Afghanistan" http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid=438&n=why-did-the-taliban-who-call-themselves-seekers-of-knowledge-close-down-the-modern-education-turkish-schools-2001-10-01
1997	149	Yurtdışında Açılan Özel Eğitim Kurumları Temsilcileri : Ikinci Toplantısı, Ankara, Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı Turtdışı Genel Müdürlügü, 1997. Cited by Balci, Bayram in “Les écoles néo-nurcu de Fethullah Gülen en Asie centrale: implantation, fonctionnement et nature du message véhiculé par le biais de la coopération éducative” Revue du monde musulman et de la Méditerranée no 101-02 pp 305-332 July 2003 http://remmm.revues.org/54

Total number of students worldwide in Gulen schools

Date	Number	Source
May 2009	2,000,000	Newsweek Magazine: “Behind Turkey’s Witch Hunt: The Ergenekon case exposes the power of a shadowy Islamic brotherhood that controls the Turkish police.” http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2009/05/15/behind-turkey-s-witch-hunt.html “It has business lobbying groups and think tanks in Washington and Brussels, owns universities, banks, TV networks and newspapers around the world, and operates schools in which more than 2 million students receive education, many with full scholarships.”
1997	26,500	“by 1997, over 250 Gulen-inspired educational institutions in nearly all parts of the world enrolled more than 26,500 students” Fethullah Gulen and his Movement’s Islamic Ethic of Education, Bekim Agai, Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies (Spring 2002), 11(1), 27–47 Footnote: The Turkish media give very exaggerated numbers with regard to these educational institutions and even the National Education Ministry does not list all of them;

Number of Gulen universities

Date	Number	Source
April 2010	20	UMT News, University of Management and Technology, Pakistan: http://www.umt.edu.pk/events_gallery/events10/Seminar-Civic-Mov/index.html “More than 1000 schools and 20 universities in over 120 countries of the world in five continents offer education inspired by the teachings of Gulen.”
Jan 2004	7	Source: Cosmopolitan Islamists in Turkey: Rethinking the Local in a Global Era. Yildiz Atasoy. CGPE Working Paper 04-03 Jan 2004. Centre for Global Political Economy, Simon Fraser University. http://www.sfu.ca/cgpe/pubs/Cosmopolitan%20Islamists%20in%20Turkey-WP.pdf "The Gulen group has established more than 250 middle and lycee level schools in different areas of the Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union and the Balkans. The number of schools it has founded in Turkey exceeds 20,000. It also has 7 universities, 5 of which are abroad and 2 of which are in Turkey."

Number of Gulen schools in Turkey

An OECD report from 2005 gives 67179 as the number of schools in the Turkish Republic.  If the estimate of Yildiz Atasoy were reliable (and that is uncertain), about 30% of schools in Turkey would be Gulen schools.

Date	Number	Source
Jan 2004	>20000	Source: Cosmopolitan Islamists in Turkey: Rethinking the Local in a Global Era. Yildiz Atasoy. CGPE Working Paper 04-03 Jan 2004. Centre for Global Political Economy, Simon Fraser University. http://www.sfu.ca/cgpe/pubs/Cosmopolitan%20Islamists%20in%20Turkey-WP.pdf "The Gulen group has established more than 250 middle and lycee level schools in different areas of the Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union and the Balkans. The number of schools it has founded in Turkey exceeds 20,000. It also has 7 universities, 5 of which are abroad and 2 of which are in Turkey."