Terrorism and Criminal Organisation Accusations
The claim that some people who left the community joined armed organizations
Distorted
Claim
Fact
The claim rests on a list of names circulated in the media after the operation of 30 January 2018: a few people who had come and gone at the Furkan Foundation years earlier and later joined armed organizations. The list was presented as if it were proof that the foundation raises people for these organizations.
Yet the reason the names on the list left is precisely the subject of the accusation. These people left the community swiftly because they did not embrace Kuytul's stance against armed jihad, and charted a separate path for themselves. Some of them, expressly citing that same disagreement, publicly criticized him online. In the case of one of them, the foundation was compelled to issue a public statement declaring that it had no connection with him whatsoever.
These names are therefore the record not of a connection but of a break. Responsibility does not run backwards: the later choice of a person who leaves a structure cannot be counted as evidence against the structure they left — least of all when the reason for leaving is exactly that choice.
That they were able to leave says a second thing as well. Once one has entered an organization, exit is not possible; whoever does not obey the rules is punished. At the Furkan Foundation, by contrast, whoever fell into disagreement or grew tired and wished to step aside left easily, and nothing happened to anyone.
Why this label, "Distorted"?
The part that is true is this: some of the names on the list did indeed come and go at the foundation's programs for a period.
But this is not a fault. The distortion lies in erasing the difference between "he was once here" and "he left here". The same record also states why those who left did so.
How is the claim constructed?
The construction is simple. A few names are found, it is said that they came and went at the Furkan Foundation for a period, the armed organization they later joined is written down, and the two pieces of information are left side by side. The sentence in between the reader supplies: so that is where they come from.
The list circulated for weeks after the operation of 30 January 2018. The detailed answer given by the foundation was published on 21 July 2018, and the legal assessment of the case file on 6 August 2019. The whole of the discussion below belongs to that period.
The reason for leaving is the accusation itself
The names listed are people who broke away from the community, and the reasons for their break are on record: they did not embrace Kuytul's stance against armed jihad. They left while openly citing this disagreement as their reason, and charted a separate path for themselves.
Some of them did not stop at leaving. For the same reason they publicly criticized Kuytul online; one of them spoke against the foundation for years, and the foundation was compelled to issue a public statement declaring that it had no connection with him whatsoever. In other words, some of these names stand publicly on the opposite side, the exact reverse of the connection the claim seeks to establish.
In which direction does responsibility run?
The later choice of a person who has left an institution is no evidence against the institution they left. If it were, a crime committed later by a student expelled from a school would be counted on that school's record. Here the case is even plainer: the reason for leaving and the path taken afterwards are the same matter. The person left precisely because they advocated the armed path.
At this point the claim contradicts its own logic. If the foundation were preparing people for armed organizations, these people would have had no need to leave.
A stance on record for years
Kuytul's opposition to going to conflict zones is not a defense produced in 2018; it is a view that goes back years and is on record:
"America's new strategy is to create conflict zones in various parts of the world, draw sincere young people there and destroy them there. America has chosen this as its method of ridding itself of Islamism and of Islamists."
The same observation appears in the state's own document as well: the police letter in the 2018 investigation file records that Kuytul has statements to the effect that he does not embrace the Salafi and takfiri understanding and does not consider it right to go to conflict zones. There is one further record showing how far back this view goes: the lesson "The Boundary Between Faith and Disbelief", in which he dealt with takfirism over eleven parts and roughly twenty-five hours, began on 26 March 2012.
Free exit, the point where the definition of an organization collapses
This is what the claim proves without realizing it. One of the distinguishing features of criminal or terrorist organizations is that entry is easy and exit impossible; whoever does not obey the organization's rules and does not submit to its leadership is punished.
In the Furkan Foundation's twenty-four-year history not a single example of this has been produced. Whoever fell into disagreement, and whoever grew tired of serving and stepped aside, alike left easily. What is more, those who spoke against the foundation after leaving, even those said to have testified against it in the investigation, moved about freely throughout 2018–2019; it has not been possible to show that a single one of them suffered the slightest harm.
Being able to leave a structure, and to criticize that structure after leaving it, is one of the most concrete pieces of evidence that the structure is not an organization.
Conclusion
The assessment is "Distorted", because the list itself is not wholly fabricated; what is distorted is what the list tells. What lies before us is not a record of training but a record of departure — and the reason for departure is precisely the thing the claim counts as a crime.
Related topics: the claim that an ISIS member was his student, the claim that he advocated armed jihad and the claim that the Furkan Foundation is a criminal organization. All the dates on this page fall between 2012 and 2019.