Evidence of Gülen ordering release of 63 FETÖ suspects emerges

Istanbul’s Chief Prosecutor İrfan Fidan said on Friday that a signed order by Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) ringleader Fetullah Gülen was the most concrete piece of evidence of Gülen ordering the release of his terrorists to date.

Gülen in 2015 told FETÖ-linked judges to release police officers and senior members, including Samanyolu TV-owner Hidayet Karaca and fugitive former Deputy Police Chief Hüseyin Korkmaz. Korkmaz is testifying on the ongoing Reza Zarrab trial in New York.

The letter was seized during an operation targeting the residence of Fevzi Yazıcı, the former art director of the FETÖ-affiliated Zaman newspaper, which is no longer in operation.

The letter is dated Apr. 19, 2015 and was found amongst other digital documents Yazıcı brought from the U.S. Yazıcı returned to Turkey in April 2015 with close to 100 USB drives containing information about FETÖ following a brief stay in the U.S.

On April 8, 2015, shortly before the release plot, Fevzi Yazıcı, who headed Zaman’s graphics department, traveled to the U.S. and returned to Turkey on April 18, according to Fidan, who said that Yazıcı brought the documents from Gulen with him.

He said that it was a part of larger plot orchestrated by FETÖ members in Turkey in league with foreign intelligence services.

“This document is the most concrete evidence of the individual order given to the members of the organization by the terrorist ringleader,” Fidan said.

“Mustafa Başer and Metin Özçelik, who followed this instruction, immediately took action and released the suspects, which included Ali Fuat Yılmazer, Hüseyin Korkmaz, Nazmi Ardıç and Yasin Topçu,” he added.

After receiving the order from Gülen, on Apr. 25,2015, then-judges and alleged FETÖ members Mustafa Baser and Metin Ozcelik released all 63 FETÖ suspects.

The 10th Criminal Court of Peace in Istanbul ruled against the release order that same night and stopped the group from being freed.

But Hüseyin Korkmaz, a fugitive alleged FETÖ member and former Turkish police supervisor, fled to the U.S. after being released in February 2016. He is currently testifying in a case against Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the former deputy CEO of Turkey's Halkbank, in a court case in New York.

Yazıcı is one of 52 suspects in an investigation of the media structure of the FETÖ terror group.

Gülen pursued a long-running campaign to overthrow the Turkish government through the infiltration of state institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary, forming what is commonly known as the parallel state.

A total of 249 people were martyred and nearly 2,200 injured in the July 15 failed coup which was perpetrated by FETÖ, led by ringleader Gülen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania.