A documentary film project focusing on the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) web of charter schools in the United States exposes a list of high-level U.S. officials who went on trips to Turkey between 2006 and 2013 that were reportedly funded by FETÖ.
The list exposed by the film "Killing Ed" shows senators, congressman, mayors, justices, police officials and other officials, including U.S. Senator Richard Lugar (Indiana) and Governor Bill Richardson (New Mexico), who visited Turkey. The trips, which reportedly cost about $15,000-$30,000 per person, were funded by Gülenist groups in the U.S.
Although politicians are obliged to report any sorts of donations received to U.S. authorities, "Killing Ed" claims that these trips were not deemed as donations, but rather were classified as friendship gestures or educational activities.
The pre-2013 controversial trips raise questions concerning links between U.S. politicians and terror-cult activities, including issues related to campaign funding from FETÖ-linked organizations in the United States. A politician in the U.S. must raise a significant amount of money to run an election campaign. House members, on average, need to raise $1.5 million, and Senators need to raise $6-10 million on average.
No member of Congress "has accepted a privately sponsored trip to Turkey since May 2015, with the exception of one congressman who made an August trip sponsored by a Norwegian group," according to an article in USA Today.
An Office of Congressional Ethics probe in 2015 revealed that Gülen-linked organizations hid the true source of funding for nearly 200 trips.
According to data collected by USA Today, the number of privately funded trips to Turkey in 2010 fell to just 100 by the second half of 2015.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation also launched a probe into FETÖ charter schools amid accusations of financial and legal corruption.
On July 15, a Gülenist faction, led by the U.S.-based figure Fetullah Gülen, within the Turkish military attempted a deadly coup that killed more than 240 people and injured nearly 2,200 others.
Regarding Gülen's extradition to Turkey, Ankara has submitted repeated formal requests along with boxes of evidence to the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as information that illustrates the group's well-known motives to directly target Turkey's democratically elected government. Testimony from leading figures involved in the coup attempt point to Gülen as being responsible for the attempted coup, but America continues to display reluctance with regards to his extradition, demanding that Turkey provide "hard evidence."
Below is a list of officials that went on trips to Turkey paid by the Gülenist terror cult: