FETÖ accused in plot against football club executives

Fetullah Gülen, the leader of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) and 107 others with links to the group, face charges of plotting against the president of Fenerbahçe football club and executives of other clubs in a case regarding match-fixing allegations. Fenerbahçe President Aziz Yıldırım served one year in prison after he was sentenced to six years in 2012 on charges of match-fixing and running a criminal organization. The 64-year-old Fenerbahçe boss, who has presided over the club since 1998, was acquitted after new prosecutors replacing the Gülen-linked prosecutors found that the charges against him were based on insufficient evidence. Yıldırım maintained his innocence throughout the trial, claiming that the evidence, including wiretapped conversations allegedly revealing match-fixing deals, were fabricated.

The chief prosecutor's office drafted an indictment against U.S.-based Fetullah Gülen, his right-hand men Ekrem Dumanlı, Hidayet Karaca, Şerif Ali Tekalan and former police chiefs. The indictment released on Friday accuses Gülen and others of running a criminal organization, violation of privacy, illegal wiretapping, forgery and defamation.

The indictment presented to an Istanbul court, includes Yıldırım, former Beşiktaş executive Serdar Adalı and prominent coach Yılmaz Vural as plaintiffs.

"FETÖ fiddled with me back in 1998 when I was elected president. A few months later some men from FETÖ's media organizations visited me and asked for my help in cases against Fetullah Gülen. I said I did not know Gülen and would not be of help for him. That's why they wanted to arrest me and capture Fenerbahçe," Yıldırım has said in a televised interview to NTV in August.

This is not the first case where FETÖ, thanks to its infiltrators within judiciary and law enforcement, is accused of tampering with evidence or fabricating it in order to imprison its critics or anyone they deemed obstacle to their cause to seize power. Fugitive judges, prosecutors and police chiefs had generals, journalists, academics and other prominent figures jailed in a string of cases in the past years in sham trials. Hundreds were arrested in the cases, only to be acquitted years later, after FETÖ's attempt to seize power by imprisoning the government members was foiled in 2013.