July 15 coup attempt and intelligence

Almost a year has passed since the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, but the intelligence dimension of this insurrection is still debated.

Former National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Undersecretary Emre Taner emphasized the "external" dimension of the coup in the Nov. 9, 2016 session of parliament's inquiry commission.

Taner was the head of MİT between 2005 and 2010. He worked in the organization for 43 years, taking on critical positions and initiatives when in active duty. He said Fethullah Gülen was monitored by MİT from the 1970s, and Taner believes that is also when international interest in Gülen. 

"Service members of foreign countries acting as diplomats became interested in the movement and the group. This peaked in 1975. We saw the Americans and others, and we saw several mass communication outlets," he testified.

Taner said many abroad were searching for a good-natured, nice-looking Islam. "The West was looking for this and wanted to try it with Fethullah Gülen. [Western intelligence agencies] monitored closely. They detected no terrorism, no criminal behavior and nothing illegal. In the 1980s alongside the rise of Islamism we also see that Turkish nationalist consciousness was also rising. And at this time we can see a rapid increase in Gülenists' schooling activities domestically and internationally. The opening of these new schools was a kind of missionary activity, under foreign influence," he said.

According to Taner, the modern image of the Gülen front helped it earn tolerance domestically and internationally. This led to quite serious levels of foreign support. "No Islamist group has enjoyed foreign support to such an extent," he said.

Taner claimed that Gülen moved to the U.S. after his domestic...