Is Adil Öksüz an alien according to German intelligence?

The head of the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND - Bundesnachrichtendienst), Bruno Kahl, spoke to Der Spiegel magazine, stating that the Gülen community was not behind the July 15 coup attempt. The comments prompted waves of reaction in Turkey, including a severe reaction from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). 

Der Spiegel asked Bruno Kahl, “Is the Gülen movement actually behind the coup attempt?” and he replied, “In this matter, Turkey has tried to convince us regarding this at different levels, but they have not succeeded yet. The coup attempt is not the state’s organized work. Also, before July 15, the government had launched a huge wave of a cleanup. For this reason, a segment in the army thought, ‘We need to stage a coup urgently before we are also caught.’ Yet, they were late and they were also cleansed. What we have seen after the coup would again have been experienced, if not at the same depth and strength. The coup has been an excuse that was only welcomed.”

This statement of the chief of German intelligence actually reflects an opinion that has existed in the Western world since July 15 but which has gained strength lately. There is a series of reasons why such an opinion has gained currency. The first is the general lack of knowledge about the Gülen community. 

Separately, the fact that the AK Party government has used the state of emergency it declared after July 15 to silence all opponents in addition to Fethullahists and victimized intellectuals, scientists and public employees regardless of their relation to the community, and in this context, the negative atmosphere created by the severe violation of rights, have all reinforced this view. In short, the reactions in the West against the AK Party’s domestic practices prevent a realistic perception of July 15. 

Even though the criticisms here are true, declaring the Fethullahists to be absolute innocent of the planning and execution of the July 15 coup attempt is, however you slice it, nothing but a disregard for the truth. 

Looking at the course of July 15, reviewing the identities of the main actors and reading the statements of several defendants are enough to see the determinant role of the Gülen community in the insurrection.  

Thus the statements of the German intelligence chief do not correspond to the facts in Turkey but are a very mistaken reading of the facts. There is no need to do special intelligence work to prove this; assessing open sources is enough. 

One dimension of the issue maybe stem from the fact that Kahl is not actually an intelligence person but took the position following a political appointment. Kahl is the right hand of Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who is the number two name after Angela Merkel in the Christian Democrat Party. In the past 20 years, wherever Schauble went, Kahl has accompanied him. Schaeuble appointed Kahl to the head of the department responsible for privatization. Kahl was then appointed to the head of the foreign intelligence organization on July 1, 2016 – two weeks before the coup attempt in Turkey. 

When one considers the political instead of the intelligence background of Kahl, then his words could be interpreted as the expression of a political view that has been the reflection of the tension recently experienced between Germany and Turkey. But, in the final analysis, his statement binds the institution he is heading. 

Actually, not a whole lot of special effort is needed to demonstrate the mistake he made in this evaluation.

 One example is enough. No one can deny that Adil Öksüz is a name close to Fethullah Gülen. Anyone can google both names and see the photo of the duo taken in Pennsylvania as Gülen sits on a couch and Öksüz squats on the floor. 

How does Kahl, who somehow has not been convinced on the role of the Fethullahists in July 15, view Öksüz, who was caught on the morning of July 16, 2016, near Akıncı Air Base which was the main operation center of the coup? Does German intelligence believe that in the morning of the night when planes taking off from Akıncı were bombing Ankara, Öksüz – as he told the prosecutor – was looking for land to buy right next to the base in Kazan?  

Or could it be that Öksüz was an alien who lost his way in the galaxy and landed at Akıncı base? It looks like the answer to this question depends on the creativity of German intelligence.