The network of Fetullah Gulen Terrorist Organisation (FETO), which orchestrated the 2016 defeated coup attempt, has been a thorny issue for Türkiye’s foreign policy.
Fetullah Gulen, who established his cult in the early 1970s, died on Sunday in the United States, where he had been in self-exile for years.
Despite Ankara’s repeated requests and the evidence it had shared on Gulen’s illegal activities, Washington refused to extradite him. This marred the relations between the two NATO allies.
The FETO continues to pose a threat to the international community from countries where it operates schools and other companies.
Gulen’s terror group had established a vast empire of educational institutions, private companies, banks, media outlets, and civil associations within Türkiye and other countries. This expansion was at the centre of a long-drawn plan to infiltrate and undermine Türkiye’s military, intelligence agencies, and judiciary.
Since the failed 2016 coup, which killed more than 250 people and wounded thousands, the Turkish state has removed FETO members from government institutions. Ankara has also warned allies to take similar steps.
The failed coup
On the night of July 15, 2016, tanks rolled across the bridges over the Istanbul Strait, and fighter jets fired on Turkish civilians as Türkiye went through a dramatic coup attempt.
Subsequent investigations found that FETO was behind the coup attempt that aimed to overthrow the democratically elected government.
The coup plotters set up positions on strategic points in Istanbul and Ankara, including bridges, as low-flying fighter jets zoomed past, breaking the sound barriers and causing panic.
As the night unfolded, key figures, including Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, called for citizens to resist, leading to widespread civilian action against the coup.
The coup attempt was ultimately thwarted, but not without significant loss and turmoil. It resulted in 253 civilian deaths and over 2,700 injuries.
Subsequently, the US authorities turned a deaf ear to Türkiye’s requests to extradite Gulen, who died at the age of 82. FETO has used the US as a base of its activities, and from where it operates hundreds of charter schools and NGOs.
FETO’s global network
FETO has a considerable presence internationally, including private schools -- approximately 150 charter schools in the US -- and hospitals, which serve as a revenue stream for the criminal cult.
FETO-linked charter schools in the US are being used both to raise funds as they siphon off American taxpayer dollars, employ followers of Fetullah Gulen, and then have FETO teachers tie a significant percentage of their income back to the terror group.
FETO schools in the US have faced legal challenges over financial mismanagement, misappropriation of public funds, and for abusing the immigration process.
Over the years, the terrorist network has scammed billions of dollars in American taxpayers' money.
The group has also operated in several European Union countries, including Germany. It also has a strong presence in the Balkans, Central Asia, and several African countries.
Some of the organisation's activities have laid bare its criminal intentions.
FETO defrauds US Army
In an investigation in 2020, it was revealed that a FETO member in the US was involved in a multi-million dollar conspiracy to defraud the Pentagon.
A Turkish-American car dealer, Hurriyet Arslan, with links to FETO in New Jersey, pleaded guilty in federal court to his role in an international conspiracy to steal millions of dollars from the US Department of Defense.
US Attorney Craig Carpenito said Arslan, a resident of Willingboro and native of Türkiye, who obtained US citizenship in 2011, conspired with Turkish nationals in 2018 to steal money from a Defense Department contract worth more than $23 million for aviation fuel to be supplied by a company in South Korea.
Schools as recruitment grounds
FETO has used schools to recruit and indoctrinate young people as it constructed a cult around Gulen.
In Türkiye, FETO targets poor families to spread its agenda, but in other countries, it has focused on influential families to send their kids to its schools.
It is estimated that around 1,000 educational institutes are owned and managed by FETO worldwide. The students who are brainwashed in these schools and dormitories are closely followed by the organisation throughout their lives.
The terror group is known for influencing its followers and making crucial decisions regarding their personal and professional lives.
And if this is not enough, then the 2021 case involving child sexual abuse at a FETO-linked school in Orlando, US, should be enough to rattle everyone. The principal of the Orlando Science Charter School was arrested for not reporting the sexual abuse to the police and trying to hush up the matter.
Dangerous cult: A covert network
The group employs covert techniques to maintain discipline, communication, and anonymity, Turkish officials say.
FETO members pledge absolute loyalty to Gulen and use encrypted apps like ByLock and Tango to coordinate activities. The same apps were used during the 2016 defeated coup attempt in Türkiye.
They also use one-dollar bills with specific serial numbers as symbols of rank and communicate through code names.
FETO’s cryptic messages are often hidden in Gulen's public speeches, enabling the organisation to operate under the guise of religious activity.
This secrecy makes it challenging for intelligence agencies to track their actions, highlighting the group's dangerous influence, especially within state institutions. Türkiye has urged the international community to recognise the security risks posed by FETO.
FETO fugitives
The widespread criminal proceedings that Ankara carried out in the last few years have almost decimated FETO inside Türkiye.
Turkish authorities have arrested thousands of FETO members, but hundreds also managed to flee Türkiye to the US and European countries.
Coordinated and persistent efforts with Turkish foreign missions helped expose FETO’s real objective and its cultish nature to officials of other countries.
Around 136 individuals from 31 countries have been extradited to Türkiye or deported from their host countries upon Ankara’s request.
According to Turkish officials, some 16 percent of fugitive members of FETO are believed to be residing in the US, and 23 percent in Germany.
Assassination of Russia's ambassador
Russia’s former ambassador to Türkiye, Andrey Karlov was shot dead by an off-duty police officer Mevlut Mert Altintas in Ankara on December 19, 2016.
Gulen, who lived in the US state of Pennsylvania after leaving Türkiye with a fake passport in 1999, was linked to the assassination.
Turkish authorities emphasised that the assassination was an act of provocation aiming to sabotage relations between Türkiye and Russia.
That incident was also later linked to a FETO plot to trigger a war between Türkiye and Russia.
