Keep Turkish army chief out of intel failure debate: MHP

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has said he does not approve of Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar's name being involved in debates regarding failure of the National Intelligence Agency (MİT) ahead of the July 15, 2016 coup attempt. 

"It's also not appropriate to involve Akar's name" in debates regarding the struggle against the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, widely believed to have been behind the thwarted coup. 

"I don't think it's right to involve the chief of the general staff in the debates on the intelligence failures or the struggle against FETÖ," Bahçeli told daily Hürriyet, reflecting on the FETÖ cases and ongoing investigations one year after the coup attempt. 

"Mr. Akar, who is trying to keep together a military that some tried to collapse, and who has claimed major successes in the fight against terror, should be kept away from these debates. We shouldn't shoot our own feet when we are going through a delicate period," he added. 

The MHP leader said FETÖ had become politically powerful by "nesting in civilian institutions."

"The basis of intelligence agencies is civilian structuring. Of course, there is also the military dimension and the police network, but the main command center is civilian and it should stay that way. FETÖ's structuring within the army is another issue entirely," he said, adding that "civilian elements, imams and brothers" were among those directing the military structuring. 

"Imam," which traditionally refers to a religious public worker, is a term used by the followers of Gülen to mark local leadership.

"This truth came out in the open after July 15. The issue of Adil Öksüz is clear,"...