Who is Marco Rubio, Trump's FETO sympathiser pick for secretary of state?

US President-elect Donald Trump has already ruffled some feathers by taking advantage of the US Congress recess and filling some key positions, including the crucial role of Secretary of State.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio came into the spotlight as he became Trump’s pick for secretary of state.

Trump, in a statement on Wednesday, said that Rubio would be “a strong advocate for our nation, a true friend to our allies and a fearless warrior who will never back down to our adversaries.”

Rubio, a longtime senator first elected in 2010, is a controversial figure.

He is not only a strong advocate of Israel’s military policies, but also has supported Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), which was behind the 2016 failed coup attempt in Türkiye.

On the question of Israel’s war against Palestinians, he has been repeating talking points from the Israeli state, which are designed to dehumanise Palestinians and anyone showing solidarity with them.

Earlier this year, Rubio accused President Joe Biden of appealing to “anti-Semites” within the Democratic Party by voicing concerns about Israel’s brutalities in Gaza – a position that suggests Rubio has little regard for human rights groups and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has stated that Israel has committed war crimes against Palestinians.

From the get-go, Rubio’s rhetoric and actions suggest he has dictatorial tendencies. For instance, he urged the administration to revoke visas for foreign students involved in pro-Palestinian protests, labeling them as “terrorist sympathisers.”

In November last year, when confronted by a group of activists in Congress, Rubio opposed a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, referring to the Palestinian group as “vicious animals” and stating, “I want [Israel] to destroy every element of Hamas they can get their hands on.”

Rubio has also championed efforts to ban TikTok, claiming that the platform spreads “pro-Hamas, anti-Israel propaganda” and poses an “existential threat to our nation.”

Following an Iranian missile attack on Israel in October, Rubio encouraged a strong Israeli response, asserting that “those demanding Israel show ‘restraint’ should remember that they have the ability to inflict regime-threatening damage on Iran and have already shown restraint by not doing so.”

FETO apologist

In 2019, Rubio hosted controversial NBA player Enes Kanter in his office. Kanter is known for having close ties with FETO’s now-dead terrorist ringleader Fetullah Gulen.

Rubio posted a photo on his X account with Kanter, stating that “he had honoured to meet Kanter, to discuss so-called 'human rights violations' in Türkiye.

The image did not go down well in Türkiye. It became a metaphor for Rubio’s murky associations with non-state actors affiliated with a terror group like FETO, which is responsible for the killings of hundreds of Turkish citizens.

Rubio even showered Kanter with praise, saying he’s inspired by him.

Kanter, whose Turkish passport was revoked in 2017, faced an arrest warrant in 2019 due to his FETO connections.

Rubio’s meeting with Kanter, as well as his public praise, faced widespread denouncement, and raised questions about the US’ support to the terror organisation, given Kanter’s affiliation with the terror group FETO is well-established.

In February 2021, Rubio was also among the signatories of an infamous letter against Türkiye, in which more than 50 members of the US Senate called on President Biden to "put pressure" on Ankara.

The letter went further, advocating for the release of individuals associated with the FETO terror organisation and the removal of the red notice on terrorist Kanter.

This disingenuous stance was quickly met with widespread condemnation by Turkish lawmakers, who decried the US’ hypocrisy for supporting the FETO terror organisation and attempts to whitewash its members by calling them so-called human rights advocates.

“The signatory Senators’ bolstering of FETO’s slanders is a hypocritical attitude which casts doubt on the sincerity of U.S. officials’ statements denying any ties to the attempted coup,” the Turkish lawmakers said.

FETO, under Gulen’s leadership, orchestrated a coup attempt on July 15, 2016, which claimed the lives of 252 people and left nearly 2,734 wounded in under 12 hours.

The organisation has a longstanding agenda to destabilise Türkiye, largely through infiltration of Turkish institutions, including the military, police, and judiciary.

Despite extensive evidence linking Gulen to the coup attempt, Ankara’s numerous extradition requests have been consistently rejected by US officials.

The terrorist ringleader, who lived in Pennsylvania, died in a US hospital last month, and the tension over the extradition issue remained unsolved.