CIA spies 'hired as teachers' at FETO-linked schools

By Sarp Ozer and Ahmet Sait Akcay

ANKARA (AA) - The Fetullah Terrorist Organization, or FETO, employed CIA spies to work as English teachers at their schools in Central Asian Turkic republics, according to an indictment against the main suspects in the plot.

On Wednesday, the 17th Heavy Penal Court in Ankara approved the indictment against 221 defendants, including U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen, said to be the central figures behind the bid to overthrow the government on July 15.

The 2,500-page indictment outlines the “attempt to overthrow the democratic constitutional order by treasonous FETO members with 35 planes, 37 helicopters, 246 armored vehicles and around 4,000 light weapons.”

The FETO "hired American CIA spies with diplomatic passports [to work] as English teachers in its schools in Turkic Republics," the indictment said, adding the terrorist group "cooperated with foreign countries in order to get their support".

According to the documents, foreign intelligence services have "controlled and used the Pennsylvania-based FETO network operating in 160 countries against Turkey".

"The use of code names and changing phone numbers every three months" reveal that the terror organization was "under the umbrella of one or more foreign intelligence services," the indictment said.

It also named Graham Fuller -- a former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council at the CIA, and former CIA station chief in Turkey-- as a sponsor for Gulen when he applied for a residence permit in the U.S.

Gulen has been living under self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania in the U.S. since 1999.

The indictment also said it was "very clear" that the FETO had links with international lobbies in Europe and the U.S., saying the terrorist group gave money to a Brussels-based lobby for anti-Turkey campaigns, and "made generous donations" to U.S. election campaigns and sent some U.S. senators on "trips" to Turkey, without giving further details.

The organization also "donated money to U.S. churches, and to senate and presidential election [campaigns]," it added.

A trial of defendants is due to start on May 22.

The Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) has been accused of being behind the attempted coup, which left at least 249 people martyred and around 2,200 wounded.

The government has also accused FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.