I wasn't really part of it, but I kinda was pulled into the Gulenist cult between the age of 12-14. For those who don't know. The Gulenists (or Gulen movement) is a cult that follows the teaching of an imam who lives in the US now and pretty much active worldwide.

I went to their schools (mainly because it was close by and parents didn't think anything bad of it) and because they were considered prestigious. The school itself was ok, but 2 times a week I would stay at "request" of the principal at their private dorms where things got weird.

Every night at 7pm some of the teachers (let's call them dorm-teachers, because not all of the teachers were involved) and a douzen of students who were considered one of them would sit in a circle with a laptop in the middle. They would play a 20 year old recording of the imam on the laptop and (probably fake) cry in 2 minutes in because it was so inspiring and all. Then every student would receive an enveloppe and would be asked to put some money in it for charity. The charity they would be donating to was in this case just the cult itself. I never gave them any money because my father is quite frugal and didn't think the school needed any donations. When I told this to my dorm-teachers they just told me to steal from my father because it was "for charity" anyways.

They would often also push me to join one of their holiday-trips which is basically an isolated building where you study the teachings of the cult for 8 hours straight for like a week and aren't allowed to leave the building (and the area around it). I only went once and hated it, never went after that.

I always thought it was a strange situation, but never said something because I was just a young teen against a load of adults anyway. When they noticed I wouldn't become part of them like some other students and after I changed schools (because we moved away), they just all acted like I didn't excist anymore. The classmates even I talked daily to just stopped talking and to this day I haven't heard a word of them.

Years later, when the whole fight against Gulenists in Turkey started, their school got shut down and I have no idea what the cult members/students are doing now. But I don't care. I'm just glad I got away from it and won't be pulling other 12 year olds into their cult.