Danger of FETO not over yet: Turkish interior minister

By Cigdem Alyanak

ISTANBUL (AA) - Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said Monday the danger posed by Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) is not yet over.

“We cannot say the danger of FETO is over,” Soylu said in a live interview to state-run broadcaster TRT Haber pointing out the government’s fight against FETO is only half complete.

FETO and its U.S. based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the July 2016 defeated coup that martyred 250 people and left nearly 2,200 others injured.

Highlighting the Turkish government’s fight against the terror network, Soylu compared the FETO issue with a matryoshka doll. “If you open one, you can find another inside it. Your hands should be relaxed to reach the bottom.”

He added that some permanent arrangements regarding FETO can be made after the July 24 parliamentary and presidential elections in Turkey.

The minister also assured that recent information about top FETO suspect Adil Oksuz’s presence in Germany is true.

Soylu said: “It is certain that he [Adil Oksuz] was in Germany a while ago.”

Oksuz, a senior figure in FETO, is accused of masterminding the defeated coup of July 15, 2016 in Turkey and has been on the run for nearly two years.

Anadolu Agency revealed last week that the 51-year-old suspect stayed for some time at a small apartment in Berlin’s Neukoelln district under the protection of FETO members.

Turkish officials have repeatedly appealed to the German government to arrest and extradite Oksuz after receiving dozens of tips indicating he was hiding in Germany.

While asking about Oksuz’s current location Soylu said: “We don’t have any assessment whether he went to some other place [from Germany] or not but it is known that he was in Germany a while ago,” Soylu added and underlined: “The information leaked by Germans is not incorrect.”

In Germany, which is home to more than 3 million Turkish immigrants, FETO has a large network with dozens of private schools, businesses and media organizations.

Since the 2016 defeated coup attempt, nearly 4,000 FETO suspects have traveled from Turkey to Germany and other countries, according to local media reports.

Several FETO suspects, including former soldiers and diplomats, have applied for asylum in various German federal states.