By Ethem Geylan

ISTANBUL

U.S. citizens “unwittingly” finance the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) through its-linked charter schools in the country, head of a Washington-based Turkish NGO said Thursday.

“FETO is using the budgets dedicated to schools for non-educational purposes by benefiting from some tricky methods and corruption,” Ali Cinar, president of the Turkish Heritage Organization said in a statement.

“What is interesting is every U.S. citizen, who pays taxes, finances these schools unwittingly,” Cinar said.

In other words, the NGO head said, FETO is financed through taxes paid by Americans. There are claims that 20 percent of around $730 million raised annually is transferred to the organization, he added.

According to Cinar, there are FETO-linked schools in 26 of 50 states in the U.S. “They especially target low-income and low-educated states so that they can be known as helpful people working for poor children.”

The FETO's schools nationwide are part of the largest charter schools network in America. Some of the schools are currently under FBI investigation for irregularities, unlawful profits, corruption, fraud and forgery.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 250 people martyred and some 2,200 injured.

Turkey accuses FETO of a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.