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July 15 failed coup attempt was worst act of terror: Turkish ambassador

ISLAMABAD, JUL 13 (DNA) – Ambassador of Turkey Ihsan Mustafa Yurdakul said on Friday, it was impossible to find the appropriate words to describe the brutality and treachery that the putschists displayed on July 15, 2016 in a bid to topple the then Turkish government.

He said it was the worst act of terror in the history of the Turkish Republic.  It was beyond a military coup d’état and the perpetrators of this hideous undertaking actually consisted of the disciples of FetullahGülen, the man who calls himself “Imam of the Universe”.

Turkish ambassador expressed these views while speaking during a ceremony held at the Turkish embassy to  pay homage to democracy martyrs of July 15 who lost their lives in thwarting coup attempt. Turkish embassy and the Younis Emre Turkish Cultural Center jointly organised the event.

Ambassador Yurdakul further said FetullahGülen, leader of FETÖ, was the mastermind behind what happened in Turkey on July15th.

FetullahGülen and his disciples planned and tried to capture the Turkish Republic and did not shied away from using lethal military force against innocent civilians, killing 251 and wounding thousands.

Two years long investigations and judicial process on the events of 16 July have produced countless crucial evidence.  Most recent findings illustrate that even on the night of 15 July the plotters were in direct communication with the FETÖ leadership.

He added, however, to judge the deeds of this man and his organization only with what transpired on July 15th would be a mistake.  The crimes committed on the night of July 15th can be considered as the tip of the iceberg.

“To understand why Fetullah Gülen and FETÖ have become number one enemy in Turkey, you will need to understand the enormity of their actions and the resulting trauma that the Turkish nation has experienced”.

The ambassador said, it all started under the guise of a charitable education effort. I would like to emphasize this aspect because that is exactly what this organization is up to in many countries.

Unfortunately, we could not decipher their darker underbelly before.  They disguised themselves as a benign education movement, when they started the campaign of establishing schools in Turkey and later around the world.

But, we now understand that this was the first step of an infiltration campaign where kids and their parents were recruited with the seemingly innocent promise of a better education and a good job.

These kids were put through school with academic and financial help and mainly a heavy hand in indoctrination. They turned into unquestioning foot soldiers of FetullahGülen.

They were ordered to stay hidden and to infiltrate state institutions. They were told that, to achieve their main goal of capturing the state, they could eschew all ethical, religious of personal beliefs.

The ambassador went on the say, their handlers kept their indoctrination up-to-date and passed on the instructions of their leader. As civil servants or military personnel, their loyalty was not to the nation or to the state they served. They did not care about upholding the constitution or the legal system of the country.

-The crime syndicate behind all this devised and ran an integrated system that took care of recruitment through schools and cram schools; financing was taken care of by holding companies and donations from business people.

The organization, he said, established media houses to shape the public opinion for and against any person, group or idea. Many persons in Turkey  who saw the organization for what it really is got lynched through these media houses.

These media houses became focal point of actions taken against journalists, academicians, bureaucrats and military officers who opposed them, or tried to expose them. They were lynched and purged.

When the Turkish Government finally understood what was actually taking place,FETÖ started taking drastic and extreme actions.

The first wave of these actions came in December 2013, where the organization released a number of so-called recordings and fabricated material. That attack proved inconclusive and provided the wake-up call both to the government and to the public.

July 15th happened at a time when the Turkish armed forces had discovered and listed most of the so-called military personnel who were actually recruits of the organization and was getting ready to expel them.

He said, July 15th was a desperate move to keep their control in place and capture the state which they were aiming to do through infiltration.

Despite the fact that we define it as a coup attempt, this was no ordinary coup. In none of the coups or coup attempts in the past did we have the putschists opening fire on civilians, let alone bombing of the parliament, the presidential complex or the police headquarters.

FETÖ established itself in around 160 countries, with thousands of schools and businesses. Their actions in Turkey should be considered as a wake-up call for other countries.

I would like to pay my tribute to all democracy martyrs who lost their lives at that night for Turkish democracy and nation. May Allah bless their soul, the ambassador concluded.=DNA

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