Coup Commission report appears after five months ... political leg still absent

With debate continuing among political party leaders over the Fethullah Gülen Terrorist Organisation (FETO)’s political leg, the Parliamentary Coup Investigation Commission has brought out its draft report some five months after it was envisaged to cease functioning. The report contains no findings about either the 15 July coup attempt or FETO’s political leg. The draft report consists of three sections devoted to FETO’s emergence, development and structure; the chronological progression and crushing of FETO’s 15 July coup attempt; and the prevention of FETO-like organisations and assaults of all kinds on democracy. A reply to the questions sent to the Chief of the General Staff and the intelligence agency undersecretariat, the source of controversy for the duration of the commission’s work, was only forthcoming from the intelligence agency. Very important findings were made about events during the coup attempt and the FETO formation in the 36-page report marked ‘secret’ sent by the intelligence agency. The key sections in the intelligence agency report are as follow:

FETO’s aim, strategy and structure: FETO’s aim is stated to be to bring to dominance the will of the group raised in line with its own twisted ideology rather than the will of the Turkish people, to usurp the state and bring society under its power. Its strategy is stated to be ‘secrecy’, ‘concealing true goals (taqiyya)’ and ‘circumspection’.

‘Organisation within an organisation’ – the Special Ones: In the section devoted to FETO’s illegal formation, a definition is provided of the ‘Special Ones’: The Special Ones are stated to consist of organisation members who are part of the police, military, intelligence and judicial organisations but who have not been unmasked. A special feature of the Special Ones is stated to be that the responsible person heading them reports directly to Cevdet Türkyolu, who stays on the same farm in the USA as Gülen and who is the organisation leader’s so-called private secretary. It is stated that, so as not to be unmasked at the places they serve, the Special Ones adopt a lifestyle contrary to their world view, where necessary engage in acts forbidden by Islam and shun contact with FETO’s legal bodies and entities (schools, supplementary education centres, foundations, etc.). The Special Ones who are unknown even within the organisation are defined in the report as being ‘a separate organisation within the organisation’.

They left Turkey after the 17^th-25^th: In the report, the Special Ones, whose service in the most sensitive of institutions such as the police and intelligence provides them with an insight into the kind of facilities and abilities that are at the disposal of the state’s relevant institutions should they be monitored, are stated to have acted accordingly. The leading contingent of the Special Ones are reported to have left Turkey in January-February 2014, realising that they had been unmasked by the intelligence agency in the aftermath of the 17-25 December event. The report states that it is absolutely impossible for any organisation ‘prayer leader’ to know the Special Ones in the place he serves.

In 170 countries: FETO is stated to take the form of an organisation that operates within the ‘religion – politics – money’ triangle in approximately 170 countries and regions in the world. FETO has 520 companies, 269 foundations, 147 written media outlets, 58 visual and audio media outlets, 252 civil society organisations, 327 associations and 216 hospitals in 170 countries.

FETO’s main operating centre is the USA: It is stated that the organisation’s main operating centre is the USA and it has risen to prominence in such states and cities as New Jersey, Washington, Pennsylvania, Texas, Houston, Nashville, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Columbus and Boston.

CIA reference for Gülen: Cited as examples of FETO’s links with foreign intelligence services are the inclusion of former CIA officials Graham Fuller and George Fides among referees nominated by Gülen to enable him to obtain a residence permit in the USA; the meeting by Cemal Uşak, acting as FETO’s spokesman, and a representative of the German intelligence service; contacts that were beneficial to the organisation with many foreign intelligence services at a time when top-ranking FETOist police staff were serving; and the fleeing to foreign countries with information and documents in their possession of people who were FETO members and had been in critical posts within strategic state institutions.

Annual earnings of 500 million dollars in the USA: What are known in the USA as ‘charter’ schools through which contracts are awarded to the private sector granting the right to provide education in return for funding are stated to have been FETO’s most important source of income. The report states that FETO earns 500 million dollars annually from the US state through 155 charter schools in 27 states.

No information about the date from the Turkish Armed Forces: It is said in the report, ‘While notification was given by the intelligence service in notes previously conveyed to external authorities that FETO might engage in a coup attempt, as intelligence was not gathered within the Turkish Armed Forces, no clear intelligence could be accessed in advance as to the date of the coup attempt.’

The General Staff called the intelligence service undersecretary at 16.40: It is indicated that, with work on the matter in hand underway, initially a call was made to the Second Chief of the General Staff by the intelligence agency undersecretary at 16.20 and at around 16.40 the Chief of the General Staff called the intelligence agency undersecretary. The intelligence service undersecretary is stated to have gone to General Staff Headquarters at around 18.00 in response to an invitation from the Chief of the General Staff.

The intelligence service undersecretary was unable to speak to Erdoğan: The intelligence service undersecretary is stated to have called the presidential protection director with it said, ‘Having been learnt that the president was not available, the protection director was asked if there was any abnormality and whether preparations were in place against potential threats. With the protection manager saying that there was no abnormality, the undersecretary continued to wait in the Chief of the General Staff’s office for news to come from the esteemed Land Forces Commander.’ The report states that the intelligence agency undersecretary left General Staff Headquarters at around 20.20 due to his appointment with former Syrian National Coalition President, Mouaz Al-Khatib.

Information in need of confirmation obtained at 15.30: The report states that raw information in need of confirmation that an attack would be staged on the intelligence agency undersecretariat by certain persons serving at the Army Aviation Academy was given by a person who came to organisation headquarters at around 14.20 on 15 July and was interviewed at about 15.30 after having passed through the necessary security procedure (identification confirmation, archive scanning) due to his not previously having had contacts with the organisation.

Petek: FETO is not related to a party

Commission Chair Reşat Petek said at a press conference he held, ‘There is no doubt that the failure to obtain prior information about the coup attempt was an intelligence weakness.’ Petek, stating that they had established that FETO was not in a communications structure with any political party, made the assessment, ‘It has been ascertained that from period to period they cosied up to parties in power that held office, either as a single party or in a coalition, and chose for themselves the path of using politics for the organisation’s ends to infiltrate the highest organs of the state, chiefly the civil service, judiciary and military. Petek, showing a receipt testifying that FETO gang leader Fethullah Gülen donated 5,000 lira to the CHP on 15 March 1967, advanced the opinion, ‘Let my words not be misunderstood here again. I am not saying this so as to draw a connection with just one political party, but as a document showing that this organisation is capable of cooperating with political parties it thinks will serve its purposes.’ Petek said in response to a journalist’s question, ‘You have shown a document testifying to it having given monetary support to the CHP. Is there assistance of this kind to other parties? Is there a contribution to your party, too, or a document along these lines?’: ‘Not as a document. But as I said, I stated that this was not an assessment about direct closeness to or distance from just one party. In this context, FETO was in close relations with the AK Party in 2010 in the operation to take over the judiciary and it supported the referendum, but in the end under the constitutional amendment, with the constitutional amendment this time being taken to the Constitutional Court and a constitutional annulment taking place whereby voting had to be for lists rather than each voter voting for a candidate, a result emerged in which FETO took over the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors.’

We have been unable to get a reply from the Turkish Armed Forces

Petek said in reply to journalists’ questions, ‘Did you have direct contact with the Chief of the General Staff? Did he state the reasons for not replying to the questions?’: ‘We corresponded with the Chief of the General Staff. With this being delayed, we said, “We are waiting. This will contribute towards our report.” But we were not in a position to exert duress. So, we have been unable until now to receive the replies to the questions that we have posed to him.’

CHP: The document is fake and we will seek judicial redress

CHP Deputy General Chair Aykut Erdoğdu has stressed that the document alleged by Commission Chair Petek while commenting on the report to have been the payment receipt under which Gülen made a donation to the CHP in 1967 was fake. Erdoğdu said, ‘We condemn the casting of a such a foolish, unconscionable and immoral aspersion. We will seek judicial redress.’ Erdoğdu, commenting in parliament, said, ‘This document has been procured by means of obtaining blank receipts posted by collectors on internet sales sites and subsequently filling it in. These receipts are sold in bulk on websites. This receipt was bought with a child’s mentality. The appearance has been given that Gülen made a donation.’ Erdoğdu, saying the 5,000 Turkish lira was the equivalent of 560,000 dollars at the time, and stating that it is known how much a preacher earns, said, ‘The controlled report into the controlled coup lurches forward through aspersions.’ Erdoğdu, noting that the twin sisters were trying to pin the blame on the CHP with this aspersion, commented, ‘This is the thing you call a coup and those who did it will be held to account before the law; they will do so before the people and God. Petek is the one who is resorting to this fraud. These receipts are on sale at sites. It is known to whom the sale is made. If recourse is made to the judiciary, it will become evident who bought it. Given the existence of such important documents, why have you been unable to write about them in the text of the report. This AKP aspersion that it is wished to fob off as being the commission report is aimed at hiding the coup’s political leg.’

He cannot remember!

Commission Chair Petek, on being questioned by journalists about this retort, confined himself to saying, ‘I cannot remember where this document came from; I cannot remember if it came from an official body. If there are such claims, recourse can be made to the judiciary.’

Political recommendation from the commission: suggestion that secularism be redefined

In the commission report, with the call made for religious education to be developed even further within the context of fighting FETO and similar organisations, it is claimed that secularism has become the source of division. In the proposals section, with it stated that secularism along with all the justifications for it must be rediscovered, the suggestion is made that secularism be redefined:

- In religious education, the rectification of various problems experienced at many religious education institutions that extend from religious education at ages 4-6 to Quran courses, from religious vocational high schools to divinity faculties and from Directorate of Religious Affairs’ educational centres to higher centres of religious specialisation is a pressing matter that inspires urgency. Quran courses, sometimes official and sometimes unofficial, are deemed to be a great opportunity by various structures. The even further development of religious vocational high schools may prevent different structures from channelling young generations to serve their ends on the pretext of ‘giving religious education’.

Adequate religious education

The necessary changes must be made in the education system to enable genuine religious education to be given at all levels and fundamental sources of religion and basic teachings such as the Quran and established customs to be conceived of as a whole. Priority must be given to children being taught to be productive individuals as of the primary school stage and to instilling religious and national values.

Source of division

Certain unjust and incorrect practices made in our political history in the name of secularism have caused secularism to be regarded as a political-social identity and not conduct by the state, and secularism, which should be unifying, has become the source of division. In place of an aggressive and militant secularism that places the pious under pressure and suspicion, a perception of secularism should be adopted that defends faith and pluralism of thought. For, secularism is the most effective way of defending different interpretations that arise from the understanding of religion.

In recent years, various religious structures are known to have been holding Friday prayers in their own buildings independently of and without permission from the Directorate of Religious Affairs and to have recited and preached sermons premised on their own conceptions, and this is gradually spreading. This situation is turning into an internal security issue. In this regard, the state should make sufficient regulations and such religious activities should also be transparent and capable of being monitored. A Religious Affairs Research Centre and a Religious Affairs Academy could be established within the Directorate of Religious Affairs.

Intelligence to the Palace

A military unit should be established that will be capable of conducting all kinds of surveillance of its own staff within and outside the barracks internal to the Turkish Armed Forces. It will be far more appropriate both from the point of view of coordination and that of compliance with the requirements of the democratic world for the proposed overarching unit whose establishment is proposed in the realm of intelligence to report directly to the president.

Constant Investigation

Investigation and research into civil servants should continue for the duration of their service once they start work and all activities in their immediate proximity deemed to be negative in state security terms should be kept under close surveillance by way of ‘assessing the circles they move in’.

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