Retired Colonel Dursun Çiçek, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison in the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) coup plot trial and was acquitted in a retrial on Tuesday, has said Turkey has pulled through becoming a theocratic state, alluding to what he called the failed attempts by Gülenist infiltrators who have become notorious for allegations of carrying out operations by exploiting their authority in key government institutions.

Members of the Gülen Movement, who are accused of jailing members of the military after coup plot trials, failed to achieve their purpose to take over the state, according to Çiçek, as the threat has been eliminated. He said that the movement targeted the army by setting a plot against its members and that the threat later extended to the government, which he said was targeted in the December 17 and December 25 operations.

He said if things went the way the Gülenists planned and the operations succeeded in overthrowing the government, Fethullah Gülen, the leader of the Gülen Movement, who lives in self-imposed exile in the U.S, would return to Turkey like Ruhollah Khomeini, the supreme leader after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, to run the state as an imam.

"They demolished the Turkish armed forces by the 'law' strike, and if they had taken over politics, it would have reached that point," Çiçek said speaking to Hürriyet in an exclusive interview. He added that the threat of a coup is unlikely as of now.

He also explained the reason for going into politics, as he intends to fight the "plotters" in the judiciary, referring again to members of the Gülen Movement who he asserts are behind his conviction.

A new trial began for the Sledgehammer coup plot case suspects in 2014 after the Constitutional Court ruled for a retrial of the convicted members of the military, citing violations of their rights. They were later released in June upon a ruling of the Constitutional Court. After being retried with a fifth hearing on Tuesday, the Anadolu 4th High Criminal Court ruled for the acquittal of the suspects due to a lack of adequate evidence after it was revealed that the digital data that served as the key evidence of the case against the suspects was falsified.

Çiçek previously asserted that the Gülen Movement has tried to infiltrate the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) for the last 35 to 40 years. He had also accused members of the Gülen Movement in the judiciary of copying his signature and submitting a "so-called evidence document" to prosecutors investigating the coup plot trial when he was released in June.