Turkey offers Kyrgyzstan support in fight against FETO

By Sarp Ozer

ANKARA (AA) - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday offered Kyrgyzstan help in fighting Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), which Ankara holds responsible for the attempted coup on July 15, 2016.

At a joint press conference at the presidential complex in the capital Ankara alongside his visiting Kyrgyz counterpart Sooronbay Jeenbekov, Erdogan said, "Turkey will continue its fight against FETO at home and abroad until the last FETO traitor will be held to account before the law," he said.

"We will be with him [Jeenbekov] in the fight against FETO with our respective departments," he said.

Erdogan said the FETO terrorist organization also posed "a great threat to Kyrgyzstan".

The Turkish president said that FETO and its supporters had tried to derail Turkey-Kyrgyzstan relations.

"I see today’s visit of President Jeenbekov as the best answer to FETO's efforts," he said.

"I believe that Jeenbekov will be much more vigorous against FETO and take the necessary measures promptly," he added.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup attempt on July 15, 2016, that martyred 250 people and left nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara also accuses the group of a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.