Prosecutors: FETÖ schools hired CIA operatives


The United States, a safe haven for the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), whose leader lives in a posh retreat in Pennsylvania, faces another accusation regarding the group behind July 15 coup attempt.

The indictment by prosecutors in the capital of Ankara investigating the terrorist group says FETÖ employed operatives of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to work as English teachers at the schools they ran in the Turkic republics in Central Asia.

According to the indictment approved by a court on Wednesday against FETÖ leader Fetullah Gülen and 220 others, the group "hired CIA spies with diplomatic passports [to work] as English teachers in its schools in Turkic Republics."

Prosecutors also say the terrorist group "cooperated with foreign countries in order to get their support."

According to the documents, foreign intelligence services have "controlled and used the Pennsylvania-based FETÖ network operating in 160 countries against Turkey."

"The use of code names and the changing of phone numbers every three months" reveal that the terrorist organization was "under the umbrella of one or more foreign intelligence services," the indictment said.

It also named Graham Fuller - a former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council of the CIA and former CIA station chief in Turkey - as a sponsor for Gülen when he applied for a residence permit in the U.S. more than a decade ago.

Gülen has been living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania in the U.S. since 1999.

The indictment also said it was "very clear" that FETÖ had links to international lobbies in Europe and the U.S., saying the terrorist group gave money to a Brussels-based lobby for anti-Turkey campaigns, and "made generous donations" to the U.S. election campaigns and sent several U.S. senators on "trips" to Turkey, without giving further details.

The organization also "donated money to U.S. churches, and to senate and presidential election [campaigns]," it added.