At least some members of FETO are believed to be behind last year's coup attempt in Turkey, according to a report by UK Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee's (FCO). While the report denies that the whole organization or its leadership were involved in the coup, it does not take as strong a tone as German intelligence did earlier this week when they said the organization had played no part.
"There is a relative lack of hard, publicly-available evidence to prove that the Gulenists as an organization were responsible for the coup attempt in Turkey," the UK Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee's (FCO) report released on Saturday states.
"While there is evidence to indicate that some individual Gulenists were involved, it is mostly anecdotal or circumstantial, sometimes premised on information from confessions or informants, and is — so far — inconclusive in relation to the organization as a whole or its leadership," it adds.
By comparison, Bruno Kahl, head of German intelligence (BND), told reporters earlier that the coup "was probably a welcome pretext" for the Turkish government to initiate a crackdown on thousands of people suspected of having connections with Fethullah Gulen.
Kahl stressed that there was no evidence that the Gulen movement was involved in the July plot, saying, "Turkey tried to convince us at every level, but so far they didn't succeed," according to RT.
"[Duncan] sympathized with Turkey, highlighting that the British equivalent of the coup attempt in Turkey would be soldiers opening fire on people on Westminster Bridge, the bombing of the British Parliament, the takeover of the BBC by pro-coup soldiers and assassination attempts directed at Queen Elizabeth and the prime minister," reads a Daily Sabah report on the issue.
Former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw also welcomed the report, saying that "without any question" FETO was involved in the coup attempt, of whose nature he said, there was "very little understanding even in the United Kingdom," according to a report by Anadolu News Agency.
"I am very pleased that the Foreign Affairs Committee of House of Commons has concluded that Fethullah Gulen Organization was involved in the coup," Straw told Anadolu on Saturday.
According to media reports, 249 people were killed and 2,200 were injured during the failed coup attempt in Turkey last year, which has followed by a massive purge of the Turkish military, civil service, media and academia.
