Fethullah Gülen’s role in the shooting of the Russian jet

Turkish press in recent days started reported about Fethullah Gülen organization’s contacts within the Armed Forces, especially in the Air Force.

In an interview he gave to the important newspaper, ‘Hürriyet’ (Freedom), ret. Colonel Ahmet ZekiÜçok declares that high-ranking, active generals even in the Turkish Air Force belong to the Gulen Sect. Being a former military prosecutor, he cites his own investigations against the Gulen Sect as well as other commanders’ testimonies. Üçok himself was victim of the so called “Balyoz-conspiracy”, in which hundreds of leading armed forces officers were in jailed based falsified proof by the sect itself.

On the other hand, pro-government newspapers in recent days started about reporting of Gulen’s influence in the armed forces as well.

Rasim Ozan Kütahyalı, columnist of the leading ‘Sabah’ (Morning) newspaper, even wrote in his column of the 27^th of March that the downing of the Russian military jet last November was the act of a pro-Gulen pilot. Kütahyalı wrote:

“I am as sure that the downing of the Russian jet was a provocation by Gulen as I am sure what my name is. This operation of the Gulen sect seriously harmed and isolated Turkey. There are serious reports about around 50 percent of the F-16 pilots belonging to the Gulen sect.”

The columnist Can Ataklı confirmed the same information, writing for the wide spread oppositional newspaper ‘Sözcü’ (spokesperson). On the 4^th of April, Ataklı writes his column titled “The Russian Jet might very well be downed by the Gulen Sect.” Ataklı writes:

“I talked about this accusation on the weekend to a retired commander. He said ‘Fethullah had always had a strong stance in the Air Force. But before that, Can, think about what you yourself had written after the downing.’ I remembered that I had written my article titled ‘the palace has ended the debate, the Russian jet was downed on the initiative of the pilot’. In fact, the presidential palace had than made a declaration that mentioned between the lines the pilots role. The commander I consulted now says these things are hard to declare officially, but in his opinion, the President, the government and even the Chief of Staff was caught unprepared, but after the downing, they had nothing left to do.”