In yet another example of scapegoating the Gülen movement for anything bad in Turkey or in anywhere else in the world, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s chief advisor Yiğit Bulut hinted at connections between FETÖ and the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US.
“FETÖ” is an abbreviation for the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization, coined by the Turkish government to label the movement as a terrorist organization. Erdoğan accuses the movement of masterminding a July 15 coup attempt in Turkey.
“This ‘terrorist network’ owns at least 230 schools in the US, and US nationals graduating from these schools hold positions at military and other institutions there. Such details are of crucial importance to the wise and to those who wish to figure them out.
“Considering these findings, let’s go back and ask: ‘Can there be a deep link between the FETÖ terrorist network and Sept. 11, 2001? What do you say, is it possible?” Bulut asked in his column published by the pro-government Star daily on Monday.
Bulut writes three columns per week for Star and also acts as a board member for Türk Telekom, Turkey’s largest telecommunication provider, which is partly owned by the state.
Accusing the movement of anything bad is nothing new in Turkey as top state officials as well as criminals and suspects also pin the blame on the movement for crimes, negligence and sometimes wrongdoing.
Last week, the infamous police officer who sprayed tear gas directly into the face of a female protestor, for which he received a suspended 20-month jail sentence, blamed his superior, whom he considers to be affiliated with the movement.
Earlier, Soma Holding Chairman Can Gürkan said Turkey’s worst mining accident that killed 301 people at his mine was a plot by the movement.
Sentenced to 19 years in prison for his ex-wife’s murder, Turkey’s infamous mob boss Alaattin Çakıcı earlier claimed that judges and prosecutors affiliated with the movement blocked a fair trial in his case.
Late in September, a report that the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office attached to its investigation into the movement stated that the removal of talented pilots from within the military and FETÖ’s ensuing infiltration has increased the occurrence of crashes.
Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli also suggested alleged links between the movement and the recent downgrade in the country’s sovereign debt rating by Moody’s.
(Turkey Purge)
