While
I understand that AKD is a franchise and as such is not responsible for
the 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

This
man, Kemil Ozoner, and his heavy handed, megalomaniac business
practices have endangered not only my family but also the credibility of
English 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 a
fair contract which we were told would be ready when we arrived to work
a 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 the
contract 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 our
weekend 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.

I
was 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 paying
for) 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 am
busy 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 school
that 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 that
she 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 before
her 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 next
day. 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 and
moved 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 intend
to 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 as
possible while I recognize that it is unlikely that we will receive any
recompense 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 are
innocent suffer unnecessarily. More importantly, I don't want to see
anymore foreign teachers lied to and misled by him or his assistants.

Please
post 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...