Turkish lawyers file FETO indictment against US figures

By Muhammed Enes Can

ISTANBUL

A group of Turkish lawyers on Friday filed legal papers accusing 17 U.S.-based individuals -- including top officials, politicians and academics -- of supporting the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

Lawyers submitted files to Istanbul’s chief public prosecutor against a number of people -- some American nationals as well as Turkish nationals in the U.S. -- for alleged links to FETO.

According to Turkey’s government, FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 249 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Among those named in the papers are New York Senator Charles (Chuck) E. Schumer, attorney Preetinder Singh ‘Preet’ Bharara, former CIA Deputy Director David Cohen, former Pentagon official Michael Rubin, former CIA figure Graham E. Fuller and President of the Turkic American Alliance (TAA) Faruk Taban.

The lawyers have asked prosecutors to take legal action against the suspects on charges of “attempting to overthrow the government of the Republic of Turkey or obstructing it from conducting its duties by force".

Schumer is accused in the petition of having millions of dollars from the group and representing them in U.S. politics.

Fuller -- a former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council at the CIA, and former CIA station chief in Turkey -- is referred to as a sponsor for Fetullah Gulen when he applied for a U.S. residence permit.

Gulen has been living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999.