The Gülenist Terrorist Group (FETÖ), which orchestrated a bloody coup attempt in Türkiye in July 2016, is penning a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden to influence Turkish-U.S. relations ahead of the upcoming NATO summit, according to Turkish security sources.
The letter, prepared with the aid of certain Congress members, is also aimed at preventing fragmentation in its internal structure that only gathered pace in recent months with scandalous confessions from insiders, sources said.
It is meant to denounce Türkiye to Washington, exonerate the terrorist group and muddy its current conversation days ahead of the eighth anniversary of its foiled coup d'etat on July 15, 2016, in which 252 people were killed and 2,734 wounded.
According to security sources, however, the fractures within FETÖ have deepened after back-to-back confessions from ringleader Fetullah Gülen’s nephew, Ebuseleme Gülen, infighting, and Gülen’s alleged abduction from his longtime Pennsylvania estate due to his “declining health.”
Ebuseleme Gülen last month claimed in a social media post that the FETÖ leader had been kidnapped from his residence in the U.S., which hosts the largest FETÖ network.
Most of the fugitives that served as FETÖ’s so-called imams of Türkiye oversaw money transactions. Secret formations escaped to the U.S. before the foiled coup and were to return to Türkiye with Gülen if their attempt had been successful.
Gülen’s nephew alleged the FETÖ ringleader was being held at an unknown location by Cevdet Türkyolu, known as the "black box" of the organization, along with Barbaros Kocakurt, Mustafa Özcan, and Gülen's personal doctor, Kudret Ünal.
Ebuseleme Gülen’s claims, relayed in a video filmed from a house right next to his uncle’s residence, have since sparked fierce debates as to the FETÖ leader’s whereabouts.
As allegations spread, a social media account for Gülen himself that had been long inactive said the FETÖ leader continued his routine activities “in a calmer environment,” claiming his doctors “insisted” on the change of location.
Ebuseleme Gülen meanwhile insists his uncle “shouldn’t die before revealing the truth” about the July 2016 coup attempt. His claims have caught on with FETÖ supporters who increasingly find explanations from the group “unsatisfactory.”
Many commented on social media the terrorist group is trying to cover up Gülen’s deteriorating health condition.
There is a loosening in members’ faith and devotion to the terrorist organization, sources said.
FETÖ’s top brass have sought to prove Gülen’s “good health” with outdated photographs and “live” footage, as well as videos of pro-FETÖ reporters visiting Gülen in person.
The group is losing credibility and looking to tip the scales in its favor with a letter to Biden, sources informed.
The letter, without any mention of FETÖ’s attempt to topple the Turkish state, accuses the Ankara government of leading “unfair policies” against FETÖ members.
An unknown number of FETÖ members, mostly high-ranking figures, fled Türkiye when the coup attempt was thwarted. Many of the group's members had already left the country before the coup attempt after Turkish prosecutors launched investigations into other crimes of the terrorist group.
Authorities have found the group’s infiltrators in law enforcement, the judiciary, bureaucracy and the military had waged a long-running campaign to topple the government.
FETÖ is also implicated in a string of cases related to its alleged plots to imprison its critics, money laundering, fraud and forgery.
Following the attempt, a state of emergency was declared, and tens of thousands of people were detained, arrested or dismissed from public-sector jobs.
FETÖ still has backers in army ranks and civil institutions, but they managed to disguise their loyalty, as operations and investigations since the coup attempt have indicated.
The terrorist group faces operations almost daily as investigators still try to unravel their massive network of infiltrators everywhere.
FETÖ’s letter also goes into length about Türkiye’s domestic affairs, namely complaints about the government’s rejection of European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decisions about the jailing of PKK-affiliated Selahattin Demirtaş, Osman Kavala, the suspect sentenced to life by Turkish courts for his role in the notorious 2013 Gezi Park riots, and FETÖ-linked teacher Yüksel Yalçınkaya.
The letter is pleading with Washington to have a “human rights-based” approach to Türkiye and pressure the Turkish government.
Security sources said FETÖ members are also looking for ways to return to Türkiye, in light of their demands in the letter.
One of the top requests in the letter is for the unconditional release of FETÖ convicts in Türkiye and the subsequent return of their jobs.
The terrorist group has yet to disclose the letter it penned to Biden, but there is a campaign to collect signatures, enough to be effective when it’s before Biden.
The letter is an ace in the hole for FETÖ ahead of the NATO leaders summit in Washington on July 9-11, which President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will also attend.
Türkiye has sent several extradition requests for Gülen to Washington, including hundreds of folders full of evidence implicating Gülen and FETÖ in the coup attempt, but U.S. officials have not approved this, saying that what Türkiye submitted falls short of the standard required. The refusal to extradite has long been a thorn in the side of Turkish-U.S. relations.
