Germany perceives terrorist PKK, FETÖ as a 'practical tool,' says presidential spokesman Kalın
by Daily Sabah
ANKARAMar 20, 2017 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Daily Sabah
Mar 20, 2017 12:00 am
Presidential spokesman İbrahim Kalın has slammed German authorities, saying that Germany perceives the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) as a "practical tool" to use against Turkey.
Speaking on Sunday in a live interview on Turkish broadcaster CNN Türk, Kalın reacted to the incapability of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND) to see "a direct link" between the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) and the July 15 coup attempt in Turkey, despite all the official documents submitted to German authorities.
According to the report in German news magazine Der Spiegel's recent issue, the German intelligence chief Bruno Kahl was not able to convince himself of the Gülen movement's direct guilt, although he had obtained information from different sources.
The intelligence chief also defined FETÖ, which is classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, as a "civil association for religious and secular education." The statements of the BND head were received with criticism in Turkey, with the ruling Justice and Development (AK Party) and the opposition both convinced of FETÖ's involvement in the foiled coup attempt.
Thus, commenting on the remarks made by the BND head, Kalın said that Kahl's statements were worth mentioning to show which powers were essentially behind FETÖ.
"The statements [by Kahl] are like us commenting on incidents happening in Europe without consulting the matter with relevant European states. It's clearly an effort to invalidate all the information Turkey has given to them on FETÖ," Kalın said, and noted that Germany perceives such terror groups as a "practical tool" against Turkey.
Meanwhile, part of the indictment on FETÖ's structure and its activities with foreign intelligence services previously stated that, "A FETÖ spokesman, and also the [late] Deputy Chair of the [Gülen-linked] Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF) Cemal Uşşak have met with a BND officer working at the German Consulate in Istanbul Edward Ehrenheim and his associate Jörg Birkenbeul on Jan. 15, 2014 at a restaurant in İstanbul."
During the meeting, FETÖ suspect Uşşak provided information about Turkey's current political and economic situation. He was further asked questions on two other matters, "In the Dec. 17 operation, were the aid trucks going to Syria from Turkey organized by MİT (Turkey's National Intelligence Organization) or the police? What is going to happen after the elections?"
Meanwhile, regarding Gülen's extradition process, Kalın criticized the Obama administration's attitude on the issue, adding that Turkey is hopeful of the Trump administration as it gave the signal to take steps in accordance with Ankara's expectations. "Our expectation [from the U.S.] is Gülen's extradition. Trump paid close attention to the issue during his telephone call with President Erdoğan. The U.S. foreign minister will come to Turkey on March 30 and we will definitely speak on the issue. As far as we see, the Trump administration is working on it," he said.
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