Gülenists used Game of Thrones to frame soldiers, say prosecutors

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

U.S. fantasy-drama Games of Thrones has been named in an indictment against a group of military officers allegedly tied to the group that planned Turkey’s July 2016 coup attempt, a judicial official stated on May 17.      

The hit HBO show was singled out in an indictment against 136 military lawyers accused of ties to the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETO), which Ankara believes plotted the attempted takeover.      

The suspects are said to have been assigned to martial courts that the plotters planned to establish if the coup had succeeded, the official said.      

One of the key witnesses in the indictment - Lt. Volkan Yetiştirici, a prosecutor with the Turkish Navy - investigated five military teachers at the Maltepe Military High School in İzmir in 2011 over the screening of the show to students.      

The teachers had purportedly shown episodes of the show, known for its frequent nudity and gory violence, to help the students improve their English.      

In a case that became known as the “Game of Thrones Investigation,” they were charged with “insulting Turkishness” and “sexual exploitation” by screening the series to under-18s and later discharged from the army.      

In October last year, they were cleared by the Constitutional Court when it ruled that their right to a fair trial had been violated.      

In the indictment, prepared by the Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office and sent to the 16th High Penal Court on May 16, Yetiştirici outlined how the investigation was not properly authorized, the official stated.      

He accused Gülen-linked officers of framing the five teachers, adding that this same Gülen cabal then made a complaint against him when he refused to prosecute the 2011 case.