The Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), which orchestrated last year's coup attempt, poses a major threat to Japan, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Wednesday.
"FETÖ is very active in Japan and poses a big threat," Çavuşoğlu said in a speech on Middle East developments at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation.
He added that some FETÖ members were tied to foreign intelligence agencies.
"We had to remove 25 percent of our diplomats who were not affiliated with the state, but with FETÖ," he told the audience in Tokyo. Since the coup attempt, the government has oversdeen the arrest of tens of thousands of suspected FETÖ supporters and dismissal more than 100,000 public servants from different government institutions.
Earlier in January, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım had also warned Japan of FETÖ structures in a meeting with Japanese Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Keiichi Ishii in Ankara.
At that meeting, Yıldırım said that Turkey expects Japan to take necessary measures against the terrorist group in the country.
The Japanese minister had said that Japan was in "full solidarity" with Turkey and added that the Japanese people were happy to see democracy prevail in Turkey after the coup attempt. He said that Japan will look into FETÖ structure in the country.
