Senior figure denies Turkish ruling party enlarged FETO

By Metin Mutanoglu

ANKARA (AA) - A Turkish former interior minister on Monday denied that the country's ruling party had fostered the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) ahead of a defeated coup attempt in 2016.

"FETO took action with this [external] instruction and tried to stab and collapse Turkey from the inside," Efkan Ala, who was in office from 2015 to 2016, told Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview.

Underlining that Turkey had witnessed strong economic growth since the Justice and Development (AK) Party was elected in 2002, Ala said the country had been a "shining star" in its region ahead of the coup attempt.

External powers sought to cause the same chaos in Turkey as in neighboring Middle Eastern countries, said Ala, who now serves as a lawmaker from the northwestern Bursa province and is a senior official in AK Party.

"They [external powers] tried to turn Turkey into Syria, Egypt, Iraq. FETO was the instrument they used. But, those using FETO are on the outside, because he is also on the outside, the head of FETO."

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the July 15, 2016, defeated coup, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Gulen has lived in self-exile in the United States near Saylorsburg since 1999.

Turkey also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.

July 15 Democracy and National Unity Day is a public holiday in Turkey, marked with events to commemorate those who lost their lives defeating the deadly coup attempt.

Denying "completely unrealistic" criticism of AK Party claiming that it had enlarged FETO, Ala said: "This is negative propaganda. They seek to cover up the real issue by directing such untruthful accusations at AK Party, a party that has entirely fought against FETO, eliminated FETO, cleared it from the state."

Noting that it had been lieutenant generals that "prepared and planned" the July 15 coup attempt, Ala underlined that due to military promotion rules in the Turkish Armed Forces, it would be impossible for an officer who began service after AK Party was elected in 2002 to rise through the ranks and become a general by 2016, when the putsch took place.

Since the coup attempt, Turkish institutions, including the military, have been working to uncover and expel FETO infiltrators in the state.

A two-year state of emergency declared after the defeated coup was lifted on July 20, 2018.

Earlier this month, Turkey's presidential commission on the state of emergency concluded 85% of all applications concerning measures taken in the aftermath of the coup attempt.

The Inquiry Commission on the State of Emergency Measures gave details of applications on measures adopted under the state of emergency decree-laws, such as the dismissal of public officials, scholarship cancellations, annulment of the ranks of retired personnel and the closure of some institutions.

The commission started the process in December 2017, and took over 108,000 decisions as of July 3, said the report.