Hardly a day passes without some shocking news being unveiled about the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), whose members were behind the atrocious coup attempt on July 15. After infiltrating state institutions for 40 years through their underground network, this illegal group's heretical and marginal religious comprehension and the crimes committed by its brainwashed militants are being revealed one by one. In an exclusive interview with Daily Sabah, Dr. Savaş Ş. Barkçin, the chief policy advisor to Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, political scientist and author evaluated FETÖ's structure, foundation, targets, frame of mind and the motivation of its members.

Daily Sabah: How did FETÖ, having prided itself in "solutions for tolerance and interfaith dialogue" for years, suddenly evolve into a group that curses and blasts the Turkish state as we have seen after the Dec. 17 operations, coup plots and a killer on July 15? The group has always advised its members not to be unfair but how did they steal exam questions to enter public institutions, extort rights and peep into people's private lives?

Savaş Ş. Barkçin: A culture of hypocrisy is at question here. There are two main problems: a deficit and hunger for spirituality, and deficit and hunger for power. They foster each other. These two deficits and demands are not novelties. They both stem from the time the Ottoman state and caliphate began decline augmented by the plans of the western powers. Faced with the persecution and sheer enmity towards Islam in the first decades of the Republic, the religious people established novel groups that stressed material power. These are different from the traditional institutions of madrasa and tekke, the Sufi covenant. Taking this modern line further Gülen emerged.

For Gülen, spirituality equals power. The more power they have, the more religious they are. He urges people to believe that the more you help to gain power, the more religious you become, and the closer you get to God. Indeed such a tendency can only be found in the post-Reformation West together with its imperialism, slavery and colonialism that perpetuates till today. Therefore FETÖ is more linked to the western notions of power and discourse than our heritage. Let us face it: power has become a religion in the West. Capitalism is a religion as well. FETÖ produces a similar level of hypocrisy found in the west by equating anything with power. This has no match throughout the Islamic world, past and present.

DS: So, how was this structure established?

SB: This structure has been established through a strategic analysis of the society and the state. They figured out the main deficiencies of the Republican state and figured out the demands of the society. They then moved to usurp those deficits and demands by controlling education, media, finance and bureaucracy. I call these four the "social power quartet." Education has always been the number one problem in Turkey.

At the beginning they persuaded bright people to become teachers and established quality schools rearing their followers whom they then employed in public agencies, the police and the military. These schools were also useful at recruiting children from families that have nothing to do with their ideology. Within bureaucracy they followed a similar and complementing strategy to gradually control the military, the judiciary and the intelligence. I call these three agencies the "state power trio." In any country these society and state actors are the real deal. You don't have to control every segment.

On the other hand, FETÖ manipulated the widespread inferiority complex that you can find in many members of the society, religious or Kemalist. This is a social problem that stems from the two-century long history of self-depreciation and glorification of the west. FETÖ finds an exit in the same way that Kemalists find through manipulation. They use the same hunger for power and belief. Kemalists deify Atatürk in a much similar vein.

FETÖ justifies all illegality and subversion in the name of acquiring power. They don't hesitate to bend the historical facts to their advantage. For them all means are permissible if they lead you to the goal. One is so much immersed in justifying the means that he loses sight of the goal after a while. This is the type of individual that FETÖ produces. They have an infinite loop of self-justification contrasting religious injunctions, which they seemingly follow. This type of "power extremism" is almost non-existing among the religious circles in Turkey. Therefore you cannot compare them with any other religious community or Sufi order.

FETÖ creates parallel life areas for its members. They utilize all sorts of psychological methods much in common with the ones you find in the west. The group alienates its members from social life. The type of people manufactured by FETÖ is social, but not sociable. Of course they are surrounded by people at the workplace and in the streets. Of course they communicate, get together and have meetings with other people, but in reality, they are not connected to them. Why not? Because the FETÖ man is surrounded by an invisible shield of hypocrisy. He talks with the people but does not really mean whatever he says. After a while hypocrisy makes a permanent mark: he forgets who he really is. And he turns into a psychologically morbid being. It is clear that finding a normal person among them is rather hard.

DS: Indeed, they have double lives as we have seen in the example of journalist Gökçe Fırat. So, how do these harmful views spread among the masses?

SB: This is related with propulsion. It is about Gülen's own perverted world view. We learn from one of his early followers that he manipulated people even when he was just a teenager.

DS: Are Gülen's followers psychologically weak since they can be easily coerced?

SB: These are people who lack self-esteem and courage. They can only feel powerful themselves if and when they are part of a larger power. They avoid voicing their opinions, and even to think for themselves. Hence they are persons who value themselves as long as they are favored by their superiors in the organization. Their power does not come from themselves. Remove the power behind, and what is left? FETÖ successfully recruits innocent teenagers coming from conservative backgrounds and small towns, looking for something to be associated with. The organization processes their behavior through a series of rewards and punishments just like the western models and experiments of manipulation. FETÖ provides a sense of security in career, at home, spiritually and materially. They tell them that they are the chosen few by God and other Muslims cannot grasp this fact. So they must not disclose their true goal.

DS: There are also those who come from the religious segment of society who have studied in their schools for years but cannot be overtaken. They listen to the same man but how is the other one manipulated more easily?

SB: Such people are unable to think by themselves and have no courage to interpret. People with inquisitive minds do not join the group and cannot stay long even if they do.

DS: However, we can see very smart and self-assured people among them.

SB: You said smart, not intelligent. These are not the same. Smartness is the capital. Intelligence is the thing that manages it. There are many intelligent people who are not smart.

The level of obedience and apathy FETÖ generates is incomparable to any traditional Sufi or scholarly tradition. For example a Sufi is sincerely devoted to his spiritual master. Yet you may hear different opinions among Sufis attached to the same master. There is a natural diversity of political or any other views. In contrast, you cannot find a bit of discrepancy between the top and low-level FETÖ members. The FETÖ has a monotype system where hypocrisy, in other words "taqiya" [Shiite notion of hypocrisy], is not an exception, it is the rule. Hence it is easy for them to deceive and subvert for long years. This has been the case with the bureaucratic posts, which they occupied, for instance.

DS: Where does the duality come from?

SB: Everything has a dual structure in FETÖ. That's why when Gülen talks, he uses a dual language. He is seemingly full of peace, love and truth, but actually he is sending hidden messages and commands to the followers. His followers can delineate the real message as they are trained to think in duality as well. Gülen is a peace angel outside and a power dealer inside. Since his followers have a divided life and personalities, they also have a divided relation with the outer world.

This duality is reflected in their parlance. For example, they say "tedbir," which properly means "to act with prudence," but they actually imply "taqiya," which means covering real intentions behind superficial words and deeds. They call the collection of donations for the benefit of their movements as "himmet" (charity), but what they actually do is "extortion." We know that they used coercion and blackmailed many business people to secure donations. They call their movement "hizmet" [humble service to the people] but what they actually mean is "capturing the state." This is a field of total manipulation and instrumentalization. All these benign terms are misused to cover up their evil strategy of controlling the society and the state.

DS: It is quite hard to find cohesion in what Gülen says. His followers, on the other hand, are easily manipulated. Some claims say that the group uses certain codes and practices mind control. Do you agree with such claims?

SB: Partly, yes. However, do not forget that there is an Arabic proverb saying that poetry is magic. The words we use daily have deep resonance in people. The speech is a centerpiece of this movement. Their daily ritual is listening or watching Gülen preaching, which is such a rare thing in any Islamic communities or groups. He is a speechmaker with his aligning of words, utilizing his voice, using any quote from verses to a sentence from Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Clearly he learnt a lot from the western body of knowledge on communicative manipulation.

In Turkish society, religious discourse generally involves preaching. Indeed, explaining something in a very detailed way, using lesser-known words and adding hadiths and the verses from the Quran while talking make the audience assume that the speaker is a devout person and knows a lot about religion.

This type of pretension is what Gülen misuses as communication. Both Gülen's and FETÖ's strategies are based on a thorough analysis of the audience. Therefore Gülen often inserts some foreign-origin words from French or English while talking to capitulate on the complex of the audience. He says a rare Arabic word followed by a French one when speaking. He may refer to Descartes and Said Nursi in the same sentence. That makes him an unrivaled scholar in the eyes of the followers.

He says a rare Arabic word followed by a French one when speaking. He refers to both Descartes and [theologian] Said Nursi. That makes him an unrivaled scholar in the eyes of the followers.

DS: In his preachings during his stay in Turkey, Gülen used to mention Christians and Jews very differently compared to now, as his stance is directed on interfaith dialogue. How does he explain this controversy?

SB: Manipulation is not the only element of interfaith dialogue but he also uses a dual language while explaining it. He says things like, "The Christians and Jews are Ahl al-Kitab [People of the Book], which are dealt with separately in the Quran. This is what we are doing. Said Nursi professed that a great number of Christians will become Muslim before the messiah arrives. We need to establish the relation with Christians as we will make them adopt Islam as are the helpers of the messiah." If you create this notion very well then it is easy to justify and this will continue all along.

DS: And no one questions this, do they?

SB: Of course. They have developed a system of thought that justifies whatever is told to them. If anything comes up that does not sound reasonable then they say, "He knows better than us," and no one rejects his claims.

DS: The Rumi Forum in the U.S. is where FETÖ carries out its interfaith dialogue activities. Can we say that "Rumi" has been chosen specifically as a tool?

SB: Sufism is another concept that FETÖ tries to misuse. After all, they may manipulate anything to add to their power. Rumi is a well-known and beloved figure in the U.S. Indeed, they even misemploy this important figure's popularity for their own sake. For example, a Gülen-related book "Kalbin Zümrüt Tepeleri" was translated in English as "The Sufi Path." Anyways, Gülen has no Sufi background and spiritual authority in the proper sense of the term. They are Machiavellists disguised as self-sacrificing adherents. They can use anything to achieve their targets. They use democracy, liberalism, Atatürk and also socialist movement.

They can use anything to achieve their targets. They use democracy, liberalism, Atatürk and also the socialist movement.

DS: The Western world has a rather indifferent stance on FETÖ. Do you think that the Western countries do not perceive the group as a threat?

SB: Set aside seeing them as a threat, some are acting as strong supporters of this group. The group is a volunteer for the western interests and both sides are aware of this. To put it simply, FETÖ showed its voluntariness to be used by the west and the west says "why not use such a zealous pawn?"

DS: Why do you think that Europe, which has long praised its own pro-democracy ideals, did not show a strong reaction to the July 15 coup attempt?

SB: It is very obvious. Power circles in Europe and the west as a whole will use anything to perpetuate the order they established following the partition of the Ottoman State. Now that Turkey began to say her own words and defend her national interest, they fear the order may slide through their hands. We all know that previous military coups in Turkey had backing from the same circles in the west. This one too. But there is a difference. These circles did not even attempt to use shallow condemnations, the sort of which they used in the past, and even when and if they did, too little and too late. You can imagine the extent of their adversity to the current administration in Turkey from this simple fact.

It seems that these circles in the west have already waged a personal war against Erdoğan. For them, Gülen is the trump card. This is why they are not willing to extradite Gülen although there is a huge pile of substantial evidence indicating that he is behind the latest coup. He may be moved to Canada or Africa.

In any case these western power circles always have a trump card. For instance Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the PKK terrorist group, was sent to Turkey back in 1999 and a few months later Gülen was settled in the U.S obtaining a residence permit upon the recommendation of many prominent American policy makers and scholars affiliated with the American power structure.

DS: What is Turkey's trump card then?

SB: It is our people. The people flooded the streets and squares that night and resisted those heinous attackers in military uniforms, risking their lives and health. This is the ultimate sign of the revival of a great nation. The people have put their mark in history. Next to our people, we also have a strong leader, a rare political figure in our recent history: our president, Mr. Erdoğan. Few people have a similar political reflex as Erdoğan has. He will continue to make his difference as he garners even larger popular support with his greater vision for Turkey.