Why does the US continue to shield FETO ring leader Fetullah Gulen?

As Türkiye marks the eighth anniversary of the failed military coup attempt, Ankara is still waiting for the United States to hand over the brain behind the attack on Turkish democracy and its people on July 15, which led to the death of 253 people and injured more than 2,700.

Fetullah Gulen, the head of Fetullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO) has controlled his sprawling terror network from his residence in Pennsylvania since 1999.

Despite many Turkish requests for his extradition from the US, Washington has not handed him over to its NATO ally, angering Ankara and making many officials question the merits of the long-term political and military partnership between the two countries.

Despite many protests from Türkiye, the US has also continued to shield the YPG, the Syrian wing of the PKK, which is considered a terror group by Washington and Ankara, along with the EU and NATO.

“FETO as a theopolitical group is part of US proxy wars raging across the globe. In other words, it is an organisation that has been able to exert influence on behalf of the US both in Türkiye and on a global scale,” says Abdullah Agar, a Turkish military analyst.

While Gulen is a preacher and the Gulenists appear to be a religious movement, according to Agar, they have pursued not only religious but also political aims and operate in different demographics across the globe.

“FETO emerged in Türkiye, but under the guise of Islam, it served the interests of the West and the US not only in Türkiye but also in many countries,” Agar tells TRT World.

‘Strategic asset’

If the US extradites Gulen to Türkiye, it might mean the elimination or failure to protect a global proxy, which may cause controversy within the northern American country’s security and political establishment and negatively affect Washington's credibility.

According to Agar, this would also negatively affect other proxies like the YPG/PKK in Syria. From this perspective, it’s understandable why the US continues to shield the FETO.

“On the other hand, Washington’s potential handing over Gulen to Türkiye carries great risks in terms of exposing FETO's dirty laundry and its global connections. After all, if Gulen falls into Ankara’s hands, both the existence of FETO in Türkiye and its existence on a global scale, as well as its conceptual existence, will be deciphered,” Agar says.

At the same time, Agar believes that the so-called ‘moderate’ Islam propagated by FETO corresponds to “a conceptual imperialism” promoted by the US and West to manipulate Muslim communities around the world, preventing them from asserting their own independent political and economic objectives.

Sami al Arian, the director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs at Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University, who had researched the group over the years, also assesses that Washington sees “this movement as a strategic asset that could be used to pressure Türkiye.”

While the US does not want to take a position that shows public or open support to a group which actually “instigated” a coup attempt a few years ago in Türkiye, the second-biggest army in NATO, Washington is also concerned about Turkish policies, which demonstrate some signs of resistance to the world’s superpower, according to Arian.

In 2019, Türkiye procured the S-400s air-defence system from Russia after the US dragged its feet on Ankara’s requests for Patriot missiles. This escalated tensions between the two NATO allies. The US has also not delivered F-35 fighter jets to Türkiye, removing it from the programme, which has also led to bad blood.

Türkiye has also taken a different stance in the Ukraine conflict, establishing strong contacts with Russia, unlike Western states, to bring an end to the bloody war.

Most recently, Türkiye has publicly shown its interest in joining BRICS, a non-Western alliance inspired by the Cold War era’s Non-Aligned Movement. BRICS includes Russia, China and India.

Unlike much of the West, Ankara has backed the Palestinian resistance against the Zionist aggression in Gaza, publicly hosting Hamas leadership and urging the pro-Israeli US administration to push Tel Aviv to come to the negotiation table with Palestinians.

“They try to change Turkish policies because Ankara, for the past couple of decades, has been trying to chart its own course, assert more independence in its decision-making and show its power in the region, trying to play rather an active role in many issues of concern to the US, which could also be detrimental to the US interests from an American point of view,” says Arian.

Gulen has certainly been “used through perhaps intelligence agencies, the CIA and others” in relation to Türkiye’s political positions, according to Arian. “They can always use him in matters when there is a great opposition or difference in policy between the US and Türkiye.”

Matthew Bryza, a former top American diplomat, believes that obstacles to handing over Gulen to Türkiye are more related to the “vigorous” US legal system than “any political decision” by Washington “to shield” him.

But Bryza also tells TRT World that “there is a clear understanding in the US government that Fetullah Gulen was involved or believably still organising the coup attempt.”

In a previous TRT World interview, Richard Falk, an international law professor, pointed out possible US complicity with the coup attempt, saying that “some clear indications” showed that coup plotters received the “green light” to proceed from Washington.

During the night of July 15, when John Kerry, the then-Secretary of State, was in Moscow and made a statement calling to de-escalate tensions, which certainly “hinted” that somehow the US knew about the coup attempt, says Arian.

“If they had known about this coup, certainly that means that they were complicit,” he says.

Zionist connections

Arian also draws attention to a critical dimension, Gulen’s strong connections with the Zionist Jewish lobby in the US, which has great influence over both Democratic and Republican politicians and groups. “Gulen in the US has been aligning himself with many Zionist forces and Zionist interests,” Arian says.

He says that FETO participate and organise events in the US to increase their friendships and relationships with Zionists.

Even if the legal procedure of Gulen’s extradition, which is a very difficult and long process due to America’s “complicated” judicial system, started in a Democratic administration, the Republicans would basically oppose this move because the FETO “will always find someone on the other side who is supportive of Gulen” due to possible Zionist connections, he says.

“They will come to his aid. The Zionist lobby will start moving some of these people, whether in the right or the left, whether Democrats and Republicans, using this process, even take political advantage of the other party,” says the professor.

In the past, Gulen has made statements in support of Israel. For example, during the controversial Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara aid flotilla, which was part of the international Gaza flotilla aiming to break up the Israeli state’s naval blockade on the Palestinian enclave, he rebuked the humanitarian aid effort.

The deadly Israeli attack resulted in the death of 10 Turkish activists.

Gaza flotilla organisers should have sought Israeli permission prior to delivering aid to Palestinians, he told the Wall Street Journal in his first interview with an American media organisation in 2010, defining their act as “a sign of defying authority” of Israel.

Gulen’s approach toward Israel is beneficial for Zionist interests in their fight against Palestinian aspirations, according to Arian. “The Israeli government and the Zionist interests want to use Gulen as another tool in which they can pressure Türkiye to take a hands-off approach versus the Palestinian issue and not to support the Palestinians as the Turkish government has been doing this for the past two decades,” he says.

What is Gulen’s goal?

To the Turkish state, the July 15 failed coup attempt was a clear indication of the FETO leader’s goal to take over the state. “When you look deeply into these goals, you will find that he doesn't care much about democratic governance or the rule of law through the representation of people,” says Arian.

“Therefore, whatever his motivation, it is something that he wanted to take over by force and try to impose certain principles, certain beliefs, certain doctrines that he has been promoting for many years,” the professor says.