Gulen behind Turkey coup bid: Parliament inquiry

ANKARA

The Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) is behind the July 15 defeated coup that left 250 people dead and around 2,200 injured, according to a parliamentary committee's draft report released on Friday.

The draft report will be submitted to the parliamentary speaker in 15 days for final approval.

Resat Petek, who chaired the parliamentary inquiry committee into the attempt, said the draft report "clearly reveals" FETO was behind the coup bid.

The committee has come to the conclusion after evaluating all evidence and documents that FETO decided and acted in the coup bid in cahoots with the so-called leadership of Fetullah Gulen, Petek said.

Fetullah Gulen has "committed forgery on numerous occasions, but he never went through an investigation. He got his green [Turkish] passport through fake documents," he said, adding that: "Documents and evidences collected by our commission confirm that."

The committee chairman also pointed out the lack of intelligence prior to the attempt.

He said the fact that there was no advanced information about the coup bid proves "without a doubt…an intelligence failure".

He said a soldier from the army’s aviation regiment played a key role in informing the chief of the National Intelligence Agency, also known as MIT, about the bid and termed it as a big factor in forcing the coup plotters to pull the time of the attempt forward to 8 p.m. local time (1700 GMT), July 15, 2016, instead of 3 a.m. (0000 GMT), July 16, 2016.

MIT restructuring

The draft report called for careful examination of reasons "why the National Intelligence Agency (MIT) was incompetent and lacked prior information about any coup attempt in Turkey's history of democracy".

It also called for restructuring of the MIT and cited the example of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that witnessed a massive overhaul following the 9/11 attacks in the U.S.

It urged the MIT to scrutinize the personnel working at state institutions, particularly those employed at the Presidency, Prime Ministry, Turkish Armed Forces, Justice Ministry and the Directorate General of Security (police). It added FETO members targeted the country’s intelligence bureaus first during their infiltration efforts.

Petek, who is a member of parliament of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party from southwestern Burdur province, also said FETO builds ties with any stakeholder that is in power at a given time and is not bound to a single party, but rather it infiltrates the political set up.

"We have arrived at the conclusion that this is not an organization that communicates with just a single political party while keeping other parties at bay.

“Time to time, whether it is the ruling party or coalition parties, this organization finds out a way to use political parties to infiltrate the state's higher institutions, including justice, military and the civil service," he said.

The draft report also focused on the fact that answers of the civil service recruitment exam -- known as the KPSS -- in 2010 had been leaked to FETO members in advance that allowed them to eventually infiltrate state institutions.

"To thwart FETO from manipulating public institutions exam ever again, recruitment should be based on merit and competence, and exams and promotions should be monitored carefully, based on open competition," the report said.

Cheating in exams

It said that cheating in the exams had allowed ideological, political and religious organizations to form their own groups within state bodies.

The report also called for clearing “militants” from all public institutions. So far, 2,236 educational institutions linked to FETO have been closed, it said.

FETO also "exploited" students who received education at their institutions and spread false information about Islam to those not familiar about the religion's true principles.

"The organization used people's religious faith to make false promises, eventually exploiting the dreams of younger generations and their future plans," it said.

FETO exists in 160 different countries, with around 800 schools and universities, 100 dormitories, close to 1,000 NGOs, associations and control over more than 200 media companies, it said.

"It is estimated that FETO’s flow of capital is between $25-50 billion," it said, adding that there were around 3,000 high-ranking FETO officials.

The draft report also warned about the existence of “disguised” FETO members within the Turkish military that could "again quickly turn into an armed terrorist group".

"If FETO had succeeded in their bid on July 15, the Republic of Turkey would have seen its darkest, most chaotic period ever," it said.

"The night of July 15 was the biggest threat to the continuity of the state this country has ever seen," it added.

Reporting by Ali Hakan Der;Writing by Satuk Bugra Kutlugun