'Europe is lying to us,' Turkish justice minister says

Europeans are mocking Turkish people's intelligence, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ has said, criticizing Europe over the statements of German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) head Bruno Kahl, who said Turkey had failed to convince Berlin that Fethullah Gülen was behind the July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.

"It is a mockery of Turkish people's intelligence," Bozdağ told state-run Anadolu Agency on March 21.

Kahl told German magazine Der Spiegel on March 18 that the Turkish government failed to convince them that Gülen was behind the coup attempt.

"Turkey has tried on different levels to convince us of that fact, but they have not succeeded," Kahl had said.
Bozdağ slammed Kahl, saying, "The person at the head of the German intelligence organization is lying to the German people, the Turkish people, and the whole world."

Reminded of the similar comments of the chairman of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Devin Nunes, Bozdağ said he believed that both intelligence organizations "knows that Gülen is behind the coup without a doubt."

"So I have never been convinced that there is any hesitation in terms of the authorities of these countries that FETÖ is behind the coup, and I still do not have any hesitation," he said arguing that "FETÖ is producing and forcing the production of this propaganda."

"Perhaps because of the tensions between Germany and Turkey, they think they can harm Turkey with the help of voicing the views of FETÖ by standing beside it. It is not possible for Turkey to be harmed by that," he said.

"He is responding to Turkey's Nazi comments against Germany in his own way. But we are making those comments based on their own actions," he added.