Anadolu Agency (AA) Istanbul News Director Muhammed Enes Can wrote about FETO's organizational structure, functioning and the process leading to the July 15 invasion attempt for AA Analysis.
Still describing July 15 with the words "coup attempt" means minimizing the true size of that night. On July 15, 2016, there was not only an attempt to overthrow a government; The target was directly the state of the Republic of Türkiye itself. If it had been successful, it would probably have been a fragmented geography, not the unitary country we are talking about today. This striking fact will be clearly understood when we look at the conditions in Turkey in 2012, when the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) openly took a position against the government and the state. It is necessary to evaluate the terror corridor that the USA and Israel, the biggest sponsors of FETO, are trying to establish in our neighbor Syria, and organizations such as DAESH and PYD, which the same alliance has unleashed on Türkiye in this country, in this context. In parallel with these, terrorist organizations that were rehearsed for civil war in the east and southeast of Türkiye were systematically serving this purpose by escalating the internal chaos with mass massacres in Hatay, Gaziantep, Kilis, Ankara and Istanbul. That's why July 15 should be read as an invasion attempt by a mind that does not belong to these lands, rather than a coup attempt. Members of FETO were the names on the stage that night, but the mind that set the stage was elsewhere.
The biggest obstacle to understanding FETO is the habit of describing it with the words "community" or "sect". Anyone who still attributes these adjectives to FETO today either has direct ties to the organization or is not aware of the truth of the matter. Because there is no third possibility. Because FETO's history of more than fifty years is a history of systematic infiltration into the state apparatus rather than a classical religious community practice. This infiltration was carried out without any color. At this point, it would be a big mistake to look for a classical organizational structure. FETO is an organization based on "bureaucratic structure". The infiltration, which started with "recruitment" in the 1975s, became systematic with the "question stealing" system since 1983-1984. All institutions, especially the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF), have been targeted in the same way.
It is this invisibility that makes the organization truly dangerous. Because FETO, as a terrorist organization, is at least as dangerous as an armed structure such as PKK or DAESH. Because it works like a chameleon. Starting from 2012, a "coloring" activity began within the organization, especially during the period when it openly targeted the state and its administrators. In this context, a member who dresses modestly could also wear a swimsuit, someone who grew a beard could also assume an atheist identity, and someone who appeared religious could appear secular. The purpose of this was to prepare cover against a possible state operation. Just like he used many disguises while infiltrating state positions for fifty years. The organization used this practice during the February 28 period. When we look at the title-promotion processes of the coup plotters in their confessional statements, it is seen that the organization did not just disguise itself during the February 28 period. He filed a complaint against the junta at the time by reporting "religious state officials" to the junta at the time, which was fighting against reactionism, thus paving the way for him.
The organization started to use this practice after 2012 as a precaution against operations that could be directed against it. Members of the organization left the organization, became members of different communities, parties, associations, foundations, etc. and began to openly criticize the organization. As a matter of fact, some of the suspects detained in the investigations launched against FETO after 2014 were members of institutions-organizations-associations-parties unrelated to the organization, and these people's defense of "I belong to a different community or foundation, I have no relationship with FETO" was reflected in the court minutes. With this move, the organization would not only save its own members, but would turn public support in favor of the organization by creating the perception that an operation was carried out against irrelevant people. In summary, nothing was fixed for the organization, from "clothes to ideology", everything was permissible until it reached power. One of the important points that should not be overlooked here is the operations carried out by FETO against groups it sees as alternatives or rivals. Infiltrating religious communities or groups and taking over the leadership through liquidation or colorization are noteworthy methods used by the organization.
Behind this flexibility lies an architectural mind that constitutes the real power of the organization: "Cell structure". In every institution infiltrated by FETO, the lowest member of the organization does not recognize the one above him. Let alone the institution, often even that person's own family is unaware of his or her real role within the organization. This is a red line that makes violation impossible; The exposed member faces an internal disciplinary punishment called "compassion slap". On the night of July 15, this architectural mind was seen in its most naked form. Adil Öksüz, the wanted name of the coup, was ostensibly an academic at Sakarya University, but his real duty within the organization was the responsibility of the Turkish Armed Forces. Kemal Batmaz, who was in Sincan Prison, was known as a real estate agent in Beykoz. However, in the images of the coup night, the generals were giving a military salute to Batmaz. The person who gave the order to stop the MİT trucks to the gendarmerie commanders, who were later learned to be FETO members, was a teacher at a public school. The same duality is repeated at every level of the organization. It seems that the apparent identity and the real identity within the organization are completely disconnected from each other. In this context, every FETO member, especially those who took on a managerial role, was living a life of different colors in society with dual identities or more identities.
Beyond corporate infiltration, this invisibility has also turned into a full-fledged information war. The organization reached millions of people with the Fuat Avni account it established on social media in 2013, but the real mastery of this account was that only one of the five information it shared was true. Blending truth and falsehood to a certain extent both preserved the appearance of reliability of the account and produced a constant uncertainty in society, a state of anxiety about who would be "exposed" and when (with disinformation data). During the same period, the organization also built a propaganda front by establishing temporary alliances with circles that were not under the same roof but shared common goals, based on the principle of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." After July 15, this information strategy evolved into complete denial. So much so that the FETO defendants, who were confronted with the footage that belonged to them in the courtrooms, went so far as to claim that the person in the video was not them.
The same logic operated at the social level. Pitching two different views or groups against each other and neither side blaming the organization when the conflict begins or ends is one of the most masterful maneuvers of FETO. The tape plot against Deniz Baykal is an instructive example of this. Even the fact that Baykal made an indirect reference to the leader of the organization in Pennsylvania by saying "across the ocean" at that time shows how difficult it was to identify the perpetrator. Likewise, he acted with the same setup in the cassette tape conspiracies he set up to take over MHP. The fact that the murderer was the first to go to the condolence house was perhaps the most striking symbol of the same hypocrisy.
The organization's use of code names is also among these examples. In addition, the organization used the "payphone system" as a means of communication in its military and secret structure, which started in the 1970s. The organization added a new one to its communication tools in 2014. Because, when the operations against the organization started, the organization started to use the special application "ByLock" for its communication. Even these communication methods planned for confidentiality and precautionary purposes are the biggest proof that the organization is not just "a community, sect, or party".
The most crucial point of FETO's methods is that it codes people and creates a class. Think of a child; He is middle school age and is called "code". Even his own structure is reticent. Or methods such as praying in the toilet at the military high school or the mentality of illegality instilled in young minds are used. The aim here is to reinforce loyalty to the organization. "Coding", which is unlikely to be successful even in a normal family structure, achieves results through pressure/direction by the organization. Without understanding this, all comments about the organization remain incomplete.
Creating a political identity for the organization and its collapse
The organization does not have a political identity, nor does it need it. Because it has a pragmatic structure, not an ideological one. He always preferred to stand by the powerful, without distinguishing between the right, the left, the conservative and the secular within the organization. Until February 7, 2012. At that time, the organization decided that it had become strong enough within the state institutions and made its first open move with self-confidence. He directly targeted the then MİT Undersecretary. However, in the four-year period from 2012 to July 15, it lost this war against the determined stance of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. This defeat cornered the organization and made July 15 a last resort. As a matter of fact, confessors frequently repeated the phrase "we will either exist or perish" for the night of July 15.
Today, the organization's action power has been largely broken and its leader is not alive. However, the reality shown by the operations against the current structure is this: FETO is still trying to remain active, and despite all the concrete evidence, a significant part of its members continue to live comfortably in various countries and continue their lives without being extradited. Those in prison are released by "becoming militant rather than reforming".
What all this shows is this: "The fight against FETO is an issue that is too layered to fit into just a legal case file." We are faced with a new generation digital structure that can take on any form and connect with the intelligence units of the country in which they are located. For this reason, the line of struggle should not be limited to the legal field. Individual awareness and social immunity should also be integral parts of this equation. Because fighting an organization that works with intelligence codes is not easy anywhere in the world. Finally, "This mind is not the mind of these lands."
[Muhammed Enes Can is Anadolu Agency Istanbul News Manager.]
The opinions expressed in the articles belong to the author and may not reflect the editorial policy of Anadolu Agency.