CHP Deputy Çiçek: 10 pct of military are Gülenist, must be cleaned immediately

A deputy from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and former colonel, Dursun Çiçek, has claimed that approximately 10 percent of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) are members of the Gülen-linked "parallel structure," run by fugitive imam Fethullah Gülen, and stressed that they must be "cleaned" from the military immediately.

Responding to a question about whether there are members of the Gülen Movement in the TSK, Çiçek said that the most important feature of a Gülenist is their ability to engage in deception and stressed that they have been trained in the art of deception since infancy. "One of the fundamental problems facing the TSK is finding evidence of Gülenist suspects and starting criminal proceedings against them," Çiçek added.

The former colonel Çiçek spent almost five years in prison due to charges against him in the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) military coup plot trial and he was released in June 2014. After his release, Çiçek accused Gülenists, who are considered a national threat by Turkey's National Security Council, within the judiciary of copying his signature and submitting a "so-called evidence document" to prosecutors investigating the coup plot trial.

Underlining that government policies to crack down on the Gülen Movement are "right for the country," Çiçek said that he hopes that those who leak documents and work for foreign intelligence services will be cleaned from the military immediately. "However, those efforts unfortunately move slowly due to difficulties finding evidence against to them," Çiçek said in Parliament on Thursday.