Hizmet Okullarının Kuruluş Tarihçesi

First of all, it should have been explained what our people and youth, with sincere intentions, tried to do in the field of education under the encouragement and advice of Hocaefendi Fethullah Gülen.

As the Akyazılı OYEV Foundation, established in 1972, activities such as granting scholarships, opening student dormitories, and offering free university preparatory courses for final‑year high school students and graduates were initiated; in those days when chaos, anarchy, and left‑right conflicts reigned, they were started by a handful of diligent and altruistic people who, coming from the mosque congregation listening to the sermons of Hocaefendi Fethullah Gülen, gathered together despite countless difficulties.

These activities, carried out sincerely and without compensation, are educational services provided by a civil society organization (CSO) and an international non‑governmental organization (NGO) that have the legal status of an association and a foundation.

Today, it is not sufficiently known when, why, where and under what impossibilities the Hizmet Schools, which have begun to become “bridges of peace” for the world, Turkey and humanity, were established. How these schools, with the permission of Allah and the advice and encouragement of Hocaefendi Fethullah Gülen, created a synergy especially among the people of İzmir and the Aegean, and more broadly the Anatolian populace, should have been narrated as a response to the many unjust accusations and slanders.

In line with the recommendations of Hocaefendi Fethullah Gülen, and through the efforts of many idealistic young educators, an educational mobilization was launched, initially focusing on tutoring centers and school activities.

Without regard to color, language, religion or race among students studying in all educational institutions in Turkey and around the world, I wrote this work to tell the success stories of thousands of self‑sacrificing young teachers and volunteers—anonymous heroes who work wholeheartedly for the upbringing of virtuous generations in every nation and country.

Halit ESENDİR