Last month, an armed attack on the United States' Embassy in the capital Ankara took place, in which two men fired six shots from a car at the entrance of the building. Police acted swiftly and were able to quickly arrest the pair, who said that they were under the effects of alcohol. "The recent increase in the dollar and U.S. President Donald Trump's [anti-Turkey] statements bothered us, that's why we organized the attack," the two claimed and added that they weren't directed, ordered or forced by anyone.
Surely however, no one believed such nonsensical justifications since the provocative attack happened in a period of time when Turkish-U.S. relations were at its most strained level ever. Besides all of this, many details including the attackers hiding the license plate of the car they used showed that the attack hadn't been spontaneously organized.
The prosecutors are building their case on this and have recently found very interesting correlations. For instance, the social media accounts of the culprits include numerous messages and shares supporting Fetullah Gülen and his secretive cult, the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), who are the perpetrators of the bloody coup attempt in July 2016.
Also, the employer of one of the defendants had photos taken with the former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey John Bass. These claims and confessions that the very defendant had a close and strong relation with FETÖ are circulating in Turkish media.The result of the investigation is likely to illuminate the public soon; however, similar provocative actions point to the same thing as the instigator: FETÖ, whose chieftain and members are currently taking shelter in the U.S.
Not a long time ago, the Turkish downing of a Russian war jet led to a crisis in the rising Ankara-Moscow relations and the atmosphere later got worse when the Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov was assassinated by a man wearing a Turkish police uniform in an art exhibition.
Soon enough, it was reportedly and evidently understood that the assassin, who deliberately got killed himself, had a connection with FETÖ.
FETÖ, which publicly follows a multidimensional campaign to damage Turkey's rooted ties with its allies, somehow still finds a warm home in the United States. The leader of the group and its senior figures freely carry out their anti-Turkey plots in their luxurious complex in Pennsylvania. Their charter schools, nongovernmental organizations and other organizations in the U.S. are still active and bring huge amounts of income to the group.
Similarly, FETÖ is well-known for its success in secretly infiltrating into the state apparatus, and therefore it is unknown how significant its presence will be in the U.S. state institutions in the future. But, what's not hard to predict is the danger it poses to the country, unless, of course, measures are taken against it.
