The Turkish Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Hakan Kivanç has praised Zimbabwe for making sure that the terrorist organisation, FETO, could not find a shelter to nestle in this Southern African country due to the vigilant position of the authorities.
Ambassador Kivanç made the remarks at the Turkish Embassy in Harare during the second commemorative ceremony of the July 15th, 2016 coup attempt by the terrorist group in Turkey.
Fetullah Gülen, the leader of the terrorist organisation, shortly called as FETO, was the mastermind behind the coup attempt in Turkey on the eve of July 15th 2016. Fetullah Gülen and his disciples planned and tried to capture the Turkish state apparatus and did not hesitate to use lethal military force against innocent civilians, killing 251 and wounding 2200, irrespective of age and gender.
Thorough investigations and judicial processes since on 16 July 2016 have produced countless crucial evidence that 15 July plotters were in direct communication with the FETO leadership.
“However, the heinous crimes committed on the night of July 15th can be considered as the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, no one could decipher their darker agenda as they disguised themselves as a benign education movement, when they started the campaign of establishing schools in turkey and later all around the world. But now it is clear for everyone that this was the first step of an infiltration plan where kids and their parents were recruited with the camouflaged innocent promise for a better education and job. The kids were put through school with academic and financial help and intense indoctrination, they were turned into devoted and loyal soldiers of Fetullah Gülen. The kids were also provided with the answers to the entrance exams for prominent schools and later for the prestigious government jobs,” Ambassador Kinvanc said.
It was regrettable that the terrorists were ordered to stay disguised while infiltrating the state institutions, until they achieved their main goal of capturing the state apparatus. Their masterminds kept their indoctrination up-to-date and passed on the instructions of their leader. As civil servants or military personnel, their loyalty was not to the nation or to the state they served. They did not care about upholding the constitution or the legal system of the country, as well.
The crime syndicate behind all this integrated system provided financial support to the schools through their own holding companies and donations from like-minded business circles.It is reported that the organisation acquired media houses to shape the public opinion to benefit their own goal. Many people in Turkey who realised the real face of the organisation got lynched through these media tools, which became the focal point of actions taken against journalists, academicians, bureaucrats and military officers who opposed or exposed them.
As the organisation grew stronger and became more affluent, it also started engaging in business transactions and government tender processes, laundering enormous sums of money, arranging illegal transfers of cash and other financial crimes using its devoted followers
When the Turkish Government finally understood what actually was taking place, FETO started taking drastic and extreme actions. The first wave of these actions came in December 2013, where the organisation released a number of so-called voice and video recordings and fabricated material. This attack proved inconclusive and provided the wake-up call for both the government and public.
By discovering their secret communication systems (bylock, eagle, tango, etc) and intercepting their instructions, the Turkish Government started to counter their moves and discover the extent of the infiltration and their impact.
The July 15th attempted coup happened at a time when the Turkish Armed Forces had discovered and listed most of the so-called military personnel who were actually recruits of the organisation and was getting ready to expel them.
“July 15th was a desperate move to keep their control in place and a vain attempt to capture state control. Defined as a coup attempt, however this was no ordinary coup attempt as opening fire on civilians, let alone bombing of the parliament, the presidential complex and the police headquarters was carried on. FETO established itself in around 160 countries, with thousands of schools and businesses. Their actions in Turkey was considered as a wake-up call for other countries. We are pleased to note an ever increasing awareness on part of our partners regarding the security threat posed by FETO as in many regions FETO schools and other commercial entities have been closely inspected and put under state control,” Ambassador Kivanc added.