Officials: Gülenists attempted to infiltrate institutions through GSM operators


According to recent findings by law enforcement officials, Fethullah Gülen, the leader of the Gülen Movement who lives in self-imposed exile in the U.S., ordered a number of public institutions and organizations to infiltrate the government's vital organs while forming a data processing center via GSM operators. Following the December 17 operation, which was allegedly orchestrated by the Gülen Movement, further details and evidence are being revealed, the most recent being four suspects implicated in the Public Personnel Selection Examination (KPSS) cheating scandal who were arrested on Tuesday after warrants were issued by an Ankara court. The findings also reveal that Gülen's "parallel structure" has infiltrated public institutions and organizations as it increased its activities with his order "to infiltrate vital government organs."Commenting on the findings, law enforcement officials said data processors of all public institutions and organizations were seized by members of the Gülen Movement as the technical basis and programs were provided by movement-affiliated firms prior to the December 17 operation. Officials continued by adding that some programs are still in use and continue "to leak information in the background."The findings further indicated that the former head of the IT department, Mustafa Tütüncü, from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) was followed and wiretapped by Gülenists. It was reported that the group's illegal tapping of Tütüncü may have been used as blackmail in efforts to modify reports regarding the 2010 KPSS investigation. The investigation was jointly launched by the Ankara Police Department's Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime Bureau and Financial Crime Bureau and was put into action to investigate the purported Gülen Movement-affiliated suspects' alleged involvement in mass cheating on the 2010 KPSS, for which Gülen is the prime suspect. The cheating scandal became public when the first wave of investigations was conducted into dozens of suspects who are believed to have been involved in fraud during the 2010 KPSS, an exam used to determine who will be recruited by state bodies based on their scores. The investigation resulted in the detention of 62 suspects, 30 of whom were later released. Police later launched the second wave of the KPSS cheating investigation and took 35 of the 78 suspects into custody. The Gülen Movement is seen as a threat to national security by the government since it is accused of infiltrating top state institutions, including the police and judiciary, and tapping thousands of people including senior officials, journalists, actors among many others, with the alleged aim of overthrowing the government. Gülen is accused of leading a criminal organization and officials have reported that sufficient solid evidence has been discovered to prove the crimes for which he is accused.