The Gülenist Terror Organization's (FETÖ) so-called "Russia imam," Kerim Has, continues to spread propaganda about Turkey by posing as a Russian expert. Even more disturbing is that the statements of Has, who has been indicted, are being published by media outlets, including Halk TV, Karar, Yeniçağ, Evrensel and BBC Turkish.
Within the scope of the investigation on FETÖ’s structure in Russia, the public prosecutor of Ankara has issued a critical indictment that indicates Has is the Russia imam of FETÖ.
The indictment stated that Has completed his master’s degree at Moscow State University and has frequently participated in telecasts.
A suspect named Enes Gülerer involved in the indictment provided statements about Has, saying: “I went to Russia through a FETÖ agency to enroll in a university in 2009. Abdurrahman İçyer, who welcomed me there, placed me in a house of the organization. The head of the house I stayed in was a person called Kerim Has.”
Has, who often refers to himself as “Russian expert Dr. Kerim Has," continues to comment on Russia and Turkey on international platforms through his YouTube channel “Kerim&Kremlin,” which he recently launched.
Has's articles on FETÖ’s website ahvalnews.com have also attracted attention. He also writes for newspapers like Birgün, Karar and Evrensel and websites like BBC Turkish. Furthermore, Has also portrayed himself as a “Russian expert” on Halk TV.
Has shared his views on the website Aktif Haber, where he said: “The S-400s were bought as a ransom for July 15. I see this as a kind of ‘political bribery’ given to the Kremlin prior to a possible threat that could emerge in the future toward the survival of the AKP (Justice and Development Party) leadership in Turkey.”
Has also published his views about Turkey’s latest Russia visit in the newspaper Evrensel, saying: “Turkey’s steps will bring huge risks.”
In another article published Wednesday in the newspaper Birgün titled "Idlib, Ukraine and Libya: Erdoğan’s dangerous tango with the Kremlin," he wrote: “The Kremlin is troubled with the fact that Ankara did not do its homework. The issue also includes Ukraine. What happened during the Kiev trip (of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan) after the attack (on Turkish soldiers in Syria’s Idlib province) added spice to the tension. Despite the good relations, the two countries’ affinity hangs by a thread.”
It is also noteworthy that FETÖ’s fugitive member Adem Yavuz Arslan retweets Has on Twitter. It is surprising that an individual indicted as FETÖ’s so-called Russia imam is making his presence felt in the Turkish media.
FETÖ, which evolved from a congregation of followers of its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gülen, has pursued its sinister agenda by posing as a religious group with an emphasis on charity work for years. Investigations have revealed that the group had been planting its men and women in every institution since the 1980s, including the army, law enforcement, the judiciary and bureaucracy, before its first coup attempt in 2013. Disguised by code names, secretive correspondence and a distinct secular lifestyle worlds away from what FETÖ promotes as religious life, its members easily infiltrated places they ultimately aimed to take over.At that time, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his support to Turkey over the coup attempt and said he stood by the elected government, offering his condolences to the victims of what President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called the "most heinous" armed coup attempt in modern Turkish history.
Back in 2017, an operation against FETÖ's St.Petersburg establishments, "Oxford Vision" and the "Russian-Turkish Cultural Center," has been launched by the Russian authorities.
According to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti's news, following the identifications, both institutions received hefty fines. The suspects, one of whom is the founder of the Russian-Turkish Culture Center, Adnan Öztürk, while the other is an instructor at Oxford Vision, Eşref Sarışahin, were detained due to claims that they offered bribes to the authorities that conducted the inspection.
Since 2013, both FETÖ-linked institutions have established their activities in several locations in Russia. Yet, according to the information that AA received from the authorities, both institutions have been dormant for one-and-a-half years, while inspections against the institutions have increased due to denunciations, and numerous irregularities in their activities have been discovered by the Russian authorities.
