Structure of Turkey's 'parallel state' revealed

ANKARA

Several details regarding the structure and operational methods of the “parallel state” or Gulen movement have been revealed by Turkish security sources. 

The parallel state, known also by the initials FETO/PDY, designates a clandestine group of Turkish bureaucrats and senior officials, allegedly embedded in the country’s institutions, including the judiciary and the police.

Since early 2014, investigations into the parallel state have seen hundreds of civil servants, including police and public prosecutors, arrested or reassigned.

According to the details gathered by Anadolu Agency from security sources, the organization's structure consists of several top-level units, some of which are responsible for collecting money, others for appointing members to key positions within the state. 

Decisions taken by these units are reportedly communicated to other members through religious leaders that the organization calls “imams”. Whether the members obey the decisions taken by the units or not is monitored by dedicated “supervisors”.

A separate set of teams are reportedly in charge of selecting members for the organization and allegedly arranging where they will stay, appointing them to high positions in state institutions and organizing their social life.

In addition, other groups are allegedly set up to interfere in court trials.

Members of the organization, who take up high positions in the police and judiciary, are involved in illegal wiretapping activities and work to fabricate digital evidence in order to eliminate those who could be a threat to the "parallel state", the sources said. 

The security records related to the investigation show that Cevdet Turkyolu is the number two of the FETO/PDY organization. He is apparently in control of the organization's purse strings. He also apparently works as a bodyguard for the organization's leader Fethullah Gulen.

Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based Islamic preacher, runs a network of schools and commercial enterprises in Turkey and around the world.

According to the sources, Turkyolu also dabs in voice-editing.

Certain designated members of said parallel state have occupied prominent positions within Turkey's business and media landscape.

Columnist for the Istanbul-based Zaman newspaper, Abdullah Aymaz is one of the founders of the organization. He travelled abroad in September this year. He did not return. 

Ahmet Can, who is designated as an “attorney” in the security records, is responsible for the organization's judiciary activities. Security sources stipulate that he is chiefly responsible for influencing court decisions. He fled Turkey in February 2014.