Jack Straw: FETO behind coup attempt in Turkey

By Ecenur Colak

ANTALYA, Turkey (AA) - Former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has welcomed a U.K. parliamentary committee report on UK-Turkey relations, which said members of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) were involved in the July 15 coup attempt in Turkey.

"I am very pleased that the Foreign Affairs Committee of House of Commons has concluded that Fetullah Gulen Organization was involved in the coup," Jack Straw told Anadolu Agency on Saturday.

According to the report released by the Foreign Affairs Committee earlier on Saturday, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office -- Britain's foreign ministry -- broadly accepted Ankara’s version of events, which blames FETO -- led by U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen -- for orchestrating the defeated coup which left 249 people martyred, and around 2,200 others wounded.

Straw added that "without any question" FETO was involved in the coup attempt, of whose nature he said, there was "very little understanding even in the United Kingdom".

He went on to say that the coup bid was reported [in the U.K.] as if few got killed as a result of few soldiers revolting.

"This is simply not true. It could have brought down, come close to bringing down a democratically elected government in a European country."

Describing the attempt as "outrageous," Straw said that the FETO had two faces and many people saw their "nice face" adding their schools and educational institutions were what attracted people to join the organization.

He said in their "very dark face" they literally undermined the foundations of the democracy.

The interview was held on the sidelines of the sixth “Turkish-British Tatlidil Forum” in the southern Turkish province of Antalya where Straw served as the forum's co-chairman.

The Tatlidil Forum, established in 2011, brings together leading figures from the fields of academia, business, the media and politics to strengthen relations between Turkey and the U.K.