Three years after riots over plans to build over an Istanbul park, a new investigation points to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) fueling the tensions that turned peaceful protests over the plans into violent riots. The city's police chief during the riots was detained yesterday for links to the cult, amid concerns that aggressive use of force by police in the Gezi Park protests may have been a plot by Gülenists to foment chaos.
Hüseyin Çapkın, who was the head of the Turkish National Police's Istanbul branch during the notorious Gezi Park riots in 2013, was detained on Tuesday in Çeşme district of western Izmir province in an investigation into his alleged links with FETÖ. His detention is the latest in a wave of detentions and arrests targeting high-ranking officials accused of links to FETÖ, which was behind the July 15 coup attempt. It also comes after the recent detention of Hüseyin Avni Mutlu, who served as Istanbul governor during the Gezi Park riots.
Thousands of police officers, from chiefs to low-ranking policemen, were detained and arrested after two coup attempts in 2013 blamed on the terror group led by Fethullah Gülen, a U.S.-based former preacher. Gülen is also accused of masterminding the July 15 coup attempt.
Çapkın was detained on the orders of the Istanbul chief prosecutor's office, which also ordered the detention of a provincial governor and two district governors. Mutlu was also detained in the same investigation a few weeks ago.
The police's role in the Gezi Park protests in Istanbul and other cities was criticized for use of disproportionate force. The protests, which started out as a demonstration by a group of environmentalists against the renovation of the titular park located next to Istanbul's Taksim Square, turned into all-out riots after rioters attacked police following a harsh intervention to protesters.
The latest inquiries show Gülen-linked police officers held key posts during the Gezi Park riots and contributed to an escalation of violence. Three police chiefs were dismissed from law enforcement earlier this month as part of a new statutory decree that enabled authorities to weed out Gülenist suspects from law enforcement and other institutions. One of them was Mithat Aynacı, who was Istanbul's deputy police chief when the Gezi riots broke out. Aynacı was criticized in 2013 for the police's "aggression" toward peaceful protesters and he was suspended from duty after the 2013 coup attempts by FETÖ. He was reinstated to his post after a court sided with him. Aynacı was captured inside a tank used by pro-coup troops in Istanbul on July 15, apparently helping the Gülenist junta seize control of Istanbul. Yunus Dolar, head of the Security Division of Istanbul police during the 2013 riots, was also dismissed for his links to FETÖ after the July 15 putsch attempt. Dolar was accused of threatening journalists covering the riots, which heightened after the burning of tents set up by protesters at Gezi Park. Ramazan Emekli, another deputy police chief, was accused of ordering the burning and was the subject of an investigation. Emekli was also dismissed by the latest statutory decree.
Gülenists are known for mass infiltration into law enforcement, the judiciary, bureaucracy and army. Police chiefs, prosecutors and judges affiliated with FETÖ were behind two coup attempts in December 2013 and since then, authorities have dismissed thousands of police officers with Gülenist links and revealed mass wiretapping, blackmail and extortion schemes by the terror cult targeting anyone opposing them.