By Emmanuel Onyango
Türkiye witnessed its bloodiest coup in modern times on July 15 2016 when rogue members of the military and security forces attempted to topple democratically elected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government.
Airstrikes targeted parliament in the capital Ankara as soldiers invaded the headquarters of the ruling AK party and held hostage the military’s Chief of Staff General Hulusi Akar.
As gunfire and explosions rang through the cities of Ankara and Istanbul far into the night, ordinary citizens took to the streets to oppose the coup – some throwing themselves at tanks that roamed the streets.
Over 250 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured.
The authorities named Fetullah Gulen and his terror organisation, Fethullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO), as the prime suspects behind the coup attempt.
Thousands of those accused of involvement escaped Türkiye in the hours and days after the coup, many ending up in European countries.
Decades-long campaign
Turkish authorities say it is a parallel set up that has operated for several decades in the country.
Prior to the coup, it had tried to manipulate the political situation by infiltrating to the core of state institutions, according to Turkish officials.
Fetullah Gulen, who leads the terror swarm, has been living under protection in the US state of Pennsylvania. He's accused of running a decades-long campaign to overthrow the Turkish state.
Gulen began in the 1960s as a cleric to become active in the Turkish politics and is believed to have laid the groundwork for an organisation that would spread across the globe.
Critics say he did this mainly by opening schools that fulfilled the mission of spy networks abroad - from the US to Central Asia, Africa and Europe.
However, the impact of the terror organisation has diminished in many countries since the failed coup with people distancing themselves from it.
‘’In the schools as an example, in the past you could see in both academic and non-academic staff a significant number of Turkish citizens, but with developments since 2016 the number has reduced.
In the hospital too that number has reduced,’’ Kabiru Adamu, head of security consultancy firm Beacon Consulting in West Africa tells TRT Afrika.
Dismantling network
FETO schools have served and became known as places where fresh blood for their corrupt purpose were lured into first with camouflages to hold religious conversations and then enroll people who would be groomed to be illicitly placed into the military, judiciary and police institutions.
Some business executives and university professors were also either blackmailed to cooperate or were voluntarily linked to the group.
It was an extralegal recruitment strategy where it turned graduates into useful resources through intense ideological brainwashing.
Following the coup attempt, there was consensus in Türkiye’s opposition and government that the organisation should be tackled immediately.
The government has been dismantling FETO’s network domestically as well trying to convince foreign governments around the world to crackdown on the organisation’s operations in their territories.
Inside Türkiye, members of the Gulenist terrorist organisation were removed from all bureaucratic institutions, especially in military and security apparatus. Visible personalities and institutions affiliated to the group have been successfully removed.
The government also shut down more than 1,000 Gulen-linked educational institutions across Türkiye and called on international allies to take similar steps against the group’s establishments.
Turkish security agents have also captured high-ranked FETO-members in overseas operations and brought them to Türkiye to face legal prosecution.
For instance, in 2021, Selahaddin Gulen - a nephew of Fethullah Gulen - was captured in Kenya in an operation by Türkiye’s national intelligence agency MIT. He was wanted on charges of membership of a terror organisation.
For years, Türkiye has been trying to get Fetullah Gulen extradited from the US. It also seeks to extradite suspects from other 27 countries.
Perception in diplomatic allies has been turning around to share Türkiye’s view on the network of Gulen’s organisation as a terrorist group.
FETO in Africa
Gulenist terror organisation runs a global network of educational institutions across the world. And while those in Türkiye have been closed down, there are still hundreds of FETO-linked schools operating around the world including in Africa.
The schools are considered as a front used to funnel money for the organization.
The Turkish authorities have successfully lobbied some governments in Africa to act against schools linked to the organisation in their territories. This has been witnessed in Sudan, Guinea, Mali, Somalia, Mauritania, Niger, Chad, Tunisia and Senegal.
It has led either to closure of the schools or handing them over to the Maarif Foundation, an institution created by the Turkish government to handle international education matters including scholarship programmes.
But Türkiye has also had challenges to convince some other African countries, to stop the operations of businesses linked to FETO. Some analysts say FETO had also attempted to conceal some of its activities.
“Some of them changed their ownership, others rebranded both in terms of their outward look and then their names. So it was difficult for instance to assert and maintain the logic that they are associated with Fetullah,” security analyst Kabiru Adamu says.
Although Türkiye has yet to record a 100% success against FETO abroad, diplomatic effort ‘’has succeeded in reducing the influence of the group,’’ he adds.
