Turkey govt slow to grasp ‘Gulen threat’

We do not want a religious movement to be controlling the judiciary, police or army: Simsek

ANKARA: The Turkish authorities were slow to realise the threat of US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of masterminding the attempted coup, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Thursday.

Gulen is accused of leading what the government calls the "Fethullah Terrorist Organisation" (FETO) and planning to topple President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but has strongly denied the allegations.

Simsek, now a key figure in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) that came to power in 2002, said the authorities had waited too long in allowing the Gulen movement to grow in Turkey.

"Yes, it is true that during our time they (Gulenists) had a free hand. We accept that," Simsek told a foreign media briefing.

"Why? Because we didn’t have experience of running this country in the past. We did not have many people working in the Turkish bureaucracy." But the former finance minister said the AKP did not know that members of the Gulen movement were building a global network that would encompass interests ranging from media to education to business.

Gulen and Erdogan were long seen as allies, joined by the desire to have Islam play a central role in politics in the traditionally secular but mainly Muslim state.

"We thought they were doing something good for the country. As soon as Erdogan saw the threat, he gave the necessary response," said Simsek.

The Turkish authorities started purging thousands of members of the security forces and judiciary deemed to be loyal to Gulen after a widespread corruption probe launched in 2013 that implicated some of Erdogan’s inner circle.

"We do not want a religious movement to be controlling the Turkish judiciary, police or army," Simsek said.

Gulen’s loyalists insist they are a loose grouping of like-minded individuals who promote charity and moderate Islam.

Simsek defended his party and government against accusations they ignored the threat by saying that the movement had existed since the 1970s and 1980s.

"There is evidence that this has been happening since the 1970s," he said, adding that Gulen supporters had worked for the state since the premierships of Bulent Ecevit and Suleyman Demirel in that decade.

Since Friday’s coup bid, thousands of people within the military and judiciary have been detained over accusations of links to Gulen, prompting global alarm over the crackdown.  About 9,200 people have been detained including soldiers, judges and prosecutors.