Article based on The Turkish Heritage Organisation’s recent panellist discussion held in Washington

Gulen’s Dangerous Network
In this conference three of the speakers, produced many evidence to prove that the coup attempt was orchestrated by cleric Fethullah Gulen –who resides in Pennsylvania and his followers are called Fethullah Gulen Terrorist Organisation (FETO). They presented evidence from investigations into the group to support the claim that Gulen’s followers had succeeded in infiltrating state institutions including the armed forces over a number of decades. One of the speakers said that both Turkish and U.S governments turned a blind eye to the organization “when it suited them.”
Another panellist Nedim Sener (Turkish investigative journalist and author ) said “this coup was not only against the government but also heinous crime against Turkish people. It was designed to topple the democratic AKP government but the coup attempt let by FETO targeted the Turkish politics and was a big crime against the innocent Turkish people.
Gulen's Questionable Residency in the U.S
Gulen’s Residency in U.S is questionable because Wikileaks raised the questions the validly of Gulen’s residence in the U.S . Panellist Sener further said that Gulen’s message of interfaith tolerance was seen highly sceptical by the three prominent religious leaders , Greek orthodox , Jews and Armenian communities in Turkey who had already refused to provide letters of reference for his residency application. Investigation suggest that one CIA agent and another U.S. Ambassador to Turkey (Morton Abramowitz who had provided letters of reference to the U.S citizenship to Gulen
Gulen’s questionable residency in US has deteriorate the relationship between Turkey and America
Gulen's Systematic Infiltration into the Turkish Armed Forces
Colonel Judge Ucok (Turkish military judge )said that members of the network infiltrated the armed forces through two methods: by stealing the questions to the examination providing entry to military schools in order to ensure that members were accepted, and by eliminating officers within the armed forces who opposed Gulen members or were not affiliated with them through wrongful charges of criminal activities (as was done during the Ergenekon and Sledgehammer trials). According to military investigations, Colonel Judge Ucok said that the first known instance of theft of the exam questions was in 1986, with 500 students having been helped to enter military schools in this manner.
Colonel Judge Ucok, who helped conduct military investigations into the Gulen network's infiltration during his tenure at the Air Force Attorney General's office, claimed that investigations had shown evidence that during the period between 1986 and 2006, 30,000 officers could have been connected to the Gulen movement. He estimated that during the following decade, an additional 40,000 could have entered into the armed services, thus making the number of affiliated officers approximately 100,000 by the present day. He said that of the 358 generals in the Turkish Armed Forces, 160 had been connected to this organization.

Gulen’s Heinous Mind and his Working procedure is dangerous

Despite the fact that everyone in Turkey including the "party in power and the opposition" – knew about the secretive group and their goals, few acted to stop them during the Ergenekon and Sledgehammer trials. According to Lt. Gen. Pekin, (former head of military intelligence ) some politicians spoke of the importance of "military oversight," while Gulen-affiliated members of state institutions created an "empire of fear," intimidating politicians into silence via threats of blackmail. In some cases, officials kept quiet because they were expecting promotions. He stated that anyone who tried to investigate the organization was punished, sometimes with imprisonment based on forged evidence of criminal activity, as happened with all three of the speakers and in more serious cases, some were assassinated for digging too deep. Gulen is not threat to the party politics but its gaols are very big through his trust or NGO’s spreading his poisonous ideology. Actually he wants to create a big empire all over the world we can say “empire of fear”. It is believes that he tries to expand his approach all political, Civil, Military, Academicians. After that he blackmails the people for giving promotions or to appoint top level etc.
Gulen Still Poses a Threat for the U.S. and Turkey
Speaker Lt. Gen. Pekin, Nedim Sener and Colonel Judge Ucok indicated that unless Gulen is extradited, FETO will continue to pose a real threat for Turkey and its allies.
Colonel Judge Ucok stated that while the view of the group outside of the U.S. is of a charitable, interfaith organization, its activities in Turkey over multiple decades prove a nefarious intent to take control of the Turkish state and have earned it the label of "terror organization."
Former head of military intelligence Lt. Gen. Ismail Hakki Pekin (ret.) called on the United States to extradite Fethullah Gulen, stating that "America has an obligation to assist its NATO ally in keeping the country stable. The United States needs to extradite Fethullah Gulen back to Turkey since he was behind the coup attempt in Turkey on July 15th."
In Turkish Heritage Organization during discussion through conference call Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said FETO and his followers are “poison the Turkish-American cooperation”. He emphasized that if US did not take action against the failed coup mastermind it would harm the relations.
The views expressed above belong to the author(s).