When I wrote about the Turkish Gulen Cult of the Poconos on 1/1/2014 for Taki’s Magazine, I was perhaps most struck by their brilliant insight that test prep is a key chokepoint in the modern world:

Amusingly, the Gülenists’ December attack on Erdoğan’s ethics seems to be retaliation for the government’s November attack on Gülen’s college admission test preparation centers. The New York Times reported: …relations soured in recent weeks after the government tried to shut down private test preparation centers in Turkey, many of which are run by followers of Mr. Gülen and are important for the movement’s recruitment and finances.…“Erdoğan’s efforts to shut down the private schools was the last straw for Gülen and the Gülenists,” said Steven A. Cook, a Turkey expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. He who controls test preparation controls the future. Seriously, if you can get your followers to score higher on the gatekeeper tests, they may become the ruling class of the future—a lesson that American conservatives might ponder. In general, American conservatives have felt that it wouldn’t be sporting for them to think in any organized fashioned about how to game tests such as the SAT. But the older civilizations have little patience for such boyish innocence. … Ambassador Jeffreys commented in his secret cable: …we have heard accounts that TNP [Turkish National Police] applicants who stay at Gülenist pensions are provided the answers in advance to the TNP entrance exam. The Gülen movement receives hundreds of millions of dollars from American taxpayers to operate approximately 130 charter schools in America. Not surprisingly, they claim excellent test scores.

From Hurriyet in Turkey today:

Military school exam questions probably stolen for 14 years: Defense minister

ANKARA Defense Minister Fikri Işık has said the ministry came to the conclusion that military academy examination questions had been stolen for a period of 14 years, as wide-scale probes into Gülenists in the wake of the July 15 failed coup attempt unearth more information about the group’s infiltration into a number of state institutions.

Keep in mind that Gulen and Erdogan were allies for about 11 of those 14 years, so I’m sure Erdogan is shocked, shocked to learn there was cheating going on as part of the Islamists’ long march through the institutions of secular Kemalist Turkey.

“The ÖSYM [Student Selection and Placement Center] has been conducting the examination since 2000. We are of the belief that the questions had been stolen until 2014. They could not steal the questions when the structure changed after the scandal in 2014. After this date, they eliminated those who received high scores and found a chance to enter military high schools through interviews,” said Işık, referring to Gülen’s followers within the army, as he answered question on private Turkish broadcaster NTV on July 29. … “They gave great importance to pilots. They eliminated those pilots who were not from them [Gülen’s followers] through [failed] health examinations. In this situation we have prepared a plan which will give readmission rights to those in this case. We have also made a study concerning compensation. We have prepared an old regulation but we will determine its scope through discussions with Prime Minister [Binali Yıldırım] and Finance Minister [Naci Ağbal],” said Işık. Regarding those set to leave military schools, Işık said additional work had been done and they had secured a regulation which would solve the problems of those officers.

By the way, note that the way Gulen attempted to overthrow Erdogan in late 2013 after Erdogan attacked his test prep centers was by having Gulenists in the police release wiretaps of Erdogan and his son talking about how there was no more room in their mansion to hide all the cash they had grifted.

Any analogies between this Turkish incident and recent hacked revelations about Hillary’s Democrats’ secret dealings are no doubt wholly coincidental.