Turkish religious movement secretly funded travels for lawmakers and staff
A Turkish religious movement has secretly funded as many as 200 trips to Turkey for members of Congress and staff since 2008, apparently repeatedly violating House rules and possibly federal law, an investigation has found.
The worldwide moderate Islamic movement, led by religious scholar Fethullah Gülen, has been accused by the Turkish government of attempting a coup in that country. Turkish leaders have asked the United States to extradite Gülen from the remote compound in rural Pennsylvania where he has lived for 20 years.
The movement has founded hundreds of charter schools across the United States and around the world, has its own media organizations, and was deeply entrenched with the Turkish regime until a falling out two years ago. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan contended that Gülen was running “a parallel state” inside the country with the intent of undermining the government. In advance of Turkish elections in November, police raided the offices of Gülen-affiliated media organizations..
