Deputy Prime Minister Kurtulmus reprimands the magazine's report on Turkey's arrests of MPs over links with terrorists being labeled as a political purge, saying it 'seriously understates' the situation
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş sent a letter to the Economist Magazine in reaction to a report titled “Turkey locks up dissidents", criticizing the British media for ignoring the threats Turkey faces from the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).
Kurtulmuş said the report “seriously understates the extent of the problem Turkey faces" from the terror group.
In the report, the British weekly criticized Turkey's judicial process against some opposition MPs who were arrested over their links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) terrorist group.
But the magazine, instead, showed their arrest as a political purge following the July 15 coup attempt, planned and staged by FETÖ terror group led by the U.S.-based cult leader Fetullah Gülen.
“This has been a recurring theme in the European media, which perhaps also reflects why Turkey's NATO allies were so slow to show their support for us during this year's attempted coup," Kurtulmuş penned.
Pointing out that Turkish prosecutors have been conducting investigation on the deadly coup attempt, Deputy PM wrote, “Investigators have demonstrated that FETO's political objective is to destabilize the Turkish republic and that it possesses the command structure, capacity and means to carry this out."
The failed coup had martyred over 240 people and injured around 2,200 others across the country as coupists targeted Present Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, his family members, Turkish parliament, national intelligence agency (MİT), National Police HQ and other democratic institutions.
The FETÖ terror group and its leader Gülen have been planning and organizing an anti-Turkey coup attempt since late 2013, which concluded with a deadly coup attempt on July 15 this year.
The group has infiltrated thousands of members into Turkey's state institutes and attempted to overthrow the elected government through several civil and military coup attempts.
“Over the past 35 years, it has established a network that has penetrated Turkish state institutions and civil society, by fair means and foul: indoctrinating recruits, stealing selection-exam papers for the civil service and armed forces, conspiring to stitch up key appointments, even framing their opponents with false evidence in court, such as in the Ergenekon and Sledgehammer cases," according to the Turkish Deputy PM.
He added, “The malign reach and agenda of the organization is common knowledge in Turkey; witness the brave and decisive opposition to the coup by Turkey's citizens, by the parliament and all state institutions."
“Yet, this is systematically overlooked by Western observers."
Kurtulmuş highlighted that, “Understanding how we feel about the Gülenist threat is vital for our future relations."
