Elements other than Gülenists also supported coup attempt: Justice Minister Bozdağ

ANKARA

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There are “elements” other than members of the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) in the Turkish military that also supported the failed July 2016 coup attempt, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ said in a televised interview on July 5. 

“I have never thought that FETÖ acted alone. They planned all stages of the coup plan with the terrorists they planted in the military. [These plans] were then carried to Pennsylvania … But there are elements other than FETÖ-linked people in the military who supported this coup. They are now answering to justice and some of them are still being sought,” Bozdağ told Habertürk TV.

He also claimed that if the coup attempt had been successful, U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, who is accused of masterminding the coup, “would have come to Turkey from Pennsylvania like Ayatollah Khomeini landed in Tehran” after the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979.

“As the people would not accept this coup attempt, there would have been a civil war. No one could estimate how long it would have lasted,” Bozdağ said.

“After that there could be consequences to the point where Turkey was invaded by a foreign power. Most important of all, FETÖ would have tried to conduct a ‘religious reformation.’ What we call a ‘religious reformation’ is that FETÖ would have tried to change the Quran and [Islamic] traditions according to itself,” he said.

Bozdağ also touched on the case of the fugitive coup suspect Adil Öksüz, who was briefly detained after the failed putsch but then disappeared after being released. Öksüz is accused on a number of charges, including being among the leaders of the coup attempt. 

“Like all citizens, I have many questions in my mind about the coup attempt. The incident [of Öksüz’s release] is one of these. It is not something appropriate to the nature of things,” Bozdağ said. 

“Because of this, if there is neglect or malice here on someone’s part, we are looking into it, asking police, gendarmerie forces, judges and prosecutors. Because we are the ones who are most demanding that this incident be revealed, that what this person [Öksüz] did is uncovered. We are the ones calling him to account,” he added.