I am writing you this letter of intent in order to bring about legal action within Turkey over the events which have taken place at Amerikan Kultur Dernigi (AKD) and British Kultur Dernigi in Manisa, Turkey.
WhileI understand that AKD is a franchise and as such is not responsible forthe reprehensible actions of the individual franchise owners, I feel that it is important that I bring to your attention the disreputable acts of the owner of the Manisa branches of AKD and British Kulture, Kemil Ozoner.
I am not alone in feeling abused and mistreated by the administration of AKD as you can easily see if you take a moment to look at the teacher forums at
Eslcafe.com
Thisman, Kemil Ozoner, and his heavy handed, megalomaniac business practices have endangered not only my family but also the credibility ofEnglish schools in Turkey.
My wife and I answered the ad that was posted in June on esljobs.com and after a correspondence with the 'head teacher' we made a trip to Manisa to assure that everything was as it was represented. The schools appeared to be professional and well organized. We met with an American teacher who told us the school was a good place to be.
We negotiated what we thought was afair contract which we were told would be ready when we arrived to worka month later at the end of August. Our contract included accommodation, a residence permit, a working visa, health insurance, a decent wage, airfare reimbursement, and a promise of two weeks paid vacation at the end of one year. While it wasn't the most lucrative contract, we liked the manager of the school and felt comfortable dealing with her. Our agreement was that we would work a maximum of 32 hours per month, six days a week, with the last weekend of each month off so we could explore a little bit of Turkey while we were here. I arrived on August 29th.
Upon arrival we were told that thecontract was not ready. When we asked about the residence permits we were repeatedly put off. The housing was filthy, had broken toilets, natural gas was disconnected, and the bills were past due. We were told that we would be taking duty three days a week but that it wouldn't count towards our working hours. We were told that we could not have ourweekend at the end of the month. The American teacher we had met had quit since we had left and within days of our arrival the British teacher was fired and the other American teacher left without notice upon receiving his pay. I received multiple warnings from at least ten teachers via email and Facebook at this time and this is when the bad reviews at ESLCafe.com mentioned above appeared. I was told to begin classes on September 3rd and did so.
Upon voicing my concerns I was told that the manager who had negotiated our 'contract' was not authorized to and that if I wasn't happy with the situation I could leave. This after my wife and I had moved from our apartment in Morocco, changed continents, given up our jobs, and accepted AKD Manisa's offer in good faith.
Upon hearing this, I threatened to action and was told that the problems would be fixed. Our hours were normalized, we were assured that the toilets would be fixed and the heat turned on, and we were given one duty day instead of three. It was promised that we would get a contract, a cleaner was hired to clean the house (after a month of living in filth), hot water was restored to the house (but not natural gas for heat), and a flurry of activity went on as a residence permit was secured for me.
Iwas told that my wife's residence permit would be easier after I had mine. A blatant lie, I later found out. After my residence permit was secured, all activity stopped. The plumbers never came, my wife's residence permit had zero activity despite our asking about it daily. Next, the owner shut off the internet in our house (which we were payingfor) without notifying us. When I asked for it to be restored, for the gas to be turned on before the cold came, and for our health insurance, work permits, and my wife's residence permit, Kemil Ozoner told me "I ambusy and won't talk to you. Get out of my office."
From this point forward he had no contact with me and had one of the teachers - his 'girlfriend' or 'ex-girlfriend' relay his messages to me. As my wife's tourist visa came close to expiration we asked again and again for action on her visa but with no reply. We also asked for the gas heat to be turned on and were told that it would be tomorrow, Monday, or the day after for weeks on end. We had purchased a ticket for her to go to Morocco so she could renew her visa. It was at this point we found out my wife was pregnant and we asked about insurance repeatedly with no reply or an assurance they would take care of it. We informed the schoolthat my wife was going to Morocco and they agreed and to our surprise said they would pay her during her time off.
The next day they said thatshe couldn't go. The next day they said she could go but without pay. The next day they said she couldn't go. And so on until four days beforeher visa was due to expire when they said that if she wanted to have a job she couldn't go and would have to stay. They said (as they had said numerous times before) that they would get her residence permit the nextday.By this point, plans were firm that my wife would go to Morocco for two weeks. Since it had gotten cold, she was pregnant, and we were still living in a freezing house with no heat and broken toilets, there was little to make it attractive to stay there. I informed the school she was going and that was the end of my discussing it. When I arrived at work, I was told that my wife and I had both been terminated with no notice and with no compensation.
We uprooted our lives andmoved to Manisa on the bad word of Kemil Ozoner and his staff. He has not fulfilled the promises his school made on his behalf nor the promises he himself made. He beguiled us into working illegally in a foreign country, endangered our status as guests in Turkey, and endangered our health by not turning on the heat during the winter or providing the health insurance he promised. He is a bad man and I intendto pursue every avenue within my considerable means to bring his actions to light.
I recommend that all who can should terminate their association with Mr. Ozoner and his school as quickly aspossible while I recognize that it is unlikely that we will receive anyrecompense for our considerable physical, mental, and legal sufferings. I think it is important that Ozoner be stopped. I realize that AKD, the students, and the teachers have little to do with the gross negligence and bad faith of Mr. Ozoner and don't want to see any who areinnocent suffer unnecessarily. More importantly, I don't want to see anymore foreign teachers lied to and misled by him or his assistants.
Pleasepost this to anyone who might be able to do something about it. If you can send it to the headquarters for AKD, British Culture, or other authorities it will be appreciated. If you can send it to relevant newspapers, it will also be appreciated.
Thanks...
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