"Know your place," Erdogan said in response. "The US general [Joseph Votel] stands on the coup plotters' side with his words. He disclosed himself via his statements," Erdogan said, as he repeated calls for the US to extradite Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of plotting the abortive coup through his followers penetrated in the Turkish civil and military bureaucracy.
Following Erdogan's comments, Votel issued a statement denying he was supporting the coup plotters. "Any reporting that I had anything to do with the recent unsuccessful coup attempt in Turkey is unfortunate and completely inaccurate," Votel said in his statement. "Turkey has been an extraordinary and vital partner in the region for many years. We appreciate Turkey's continuing cooperation and look forward to our future partnership in the counter-ISIL fight."
Turkey court issues arrest warrant for Fethullah Gulen
A court in Turkey has issued a formal warrant for the arrest of Fethullah Gulen, who has lived in Pennsylvania since 1998, whom the government accuses of being behind the failed coup that resulted in the death of more than 250 people. The official Anadolu news agency said that on August 4, 2016 an Istanbul-based court issued the warrant for Gulen for "ordering the July 15 coup attempt".
The order for Gulen's arrest is seen a step toward a formal extradition request to the United States, which Turkish officials say will be submitted after an investigation into the botched coup.
Erdogan has been calling for the extradition since 2013, when he accused Gulen's followers, who held positions in the judiciary, of orchestrating a corruption inquiry that implicated Erdogan's inner circle. An arrest warrant for Mr. Gulen was issued in Turkey in 2014, accusing him of directing "an armed terrorist organization" that illegally tapped the conversations of the prime minister and president.
Metin Gurcan, a senior columnist, provides an insight into the Gulen movement which has been active in Turkey for 40 years and operates in 130 countries employing hundreds of thousands of people in the fields of education, health and trade with annual revenue exceeding $50 billion.
Metin argues that " we tend to see the Gulenist structure in a modern paradigm as a hierarchical body, with rigid internal discipline and followers who are strongly devoted to its highly charismatic leader. This is where we make mistakes when analyzing the Gulenist structure."
According to Kahraman Sakul of Istanbul Sehir University who spoke to Al-Monitor, the Gulenist network is based on much more complex relations. He said, "Contrary to sustained media comments, I don't think the network model of Gulenists emulates the classical pyramid model of terrorists. The Gulen movement has transparent, overt networks of trade, finance, education, media, health and social media and secret, covert networks of military and intelligence bureaucracy."
"Until now, international opinion focused on overt Gulenist networks. But the testimonies of soldiers detained after the coup make it clear there are enormous differences between the overt and covert networks of the Gulenist movement," Metin says adding:
"In their official narratives used by overt networks, Fethullah Gulen is portrayed as an "opinion leader." We are told that his basic goal is to spread his service worldwide, to serve global peace by doing business all over, to overcome prejudices between religions and culture, and to ensure interfaith dialogue. But what we hear from testimonies of pro-Fethullah Gulen Terror Organization (FETO) military officers, the narrative used in secret networks is quite different.
"Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar, who was taken hostage by his closest associates on the night of the coup attempt, has said he was approached by air force brigadier Hakan Evrim, who told him, "If you wish, we can arrange for you to talk to our opinion leader Fethullah Gulen," which proved their absolute obedience to Gulen.
How covert Gulen network works?
"Soldiers in the covert networks are obliged to carry out the orders passed on to them by their civilian "older brothers." No Gulenist in uniform knew any other officer of the same affiliation. This is best explained by the testimony of Muhammed Uslu, a civilian working in the private secretariat of the Prime Ministry who was also the "older brother" of Lt. Col. Levent Turkkan, the senior aide to Akar. We were amazed to hear how Uslu received the daily recordings of the office of the Chief of General Staff and passed them on to another civilian brother he didn't even know.
"The group that constitutes the core of the secret network would spread the unquestionable instructions to lower levels, where the only requirement was to carry them out. This blind obedience also meant that many bright Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) officers with master's and doctorate degrees were passing on what they learned to "older brothers' they didn't even know.
" Secret cells of Gulenists do not operate on a hierarchical pyramid model. Their nets don't operate on the basis of perpendicular hierarchies of command and control but on horizontal hierarchy. For example, there are reports that on the night of July 15, many generals were ordered around by colonels and even more junior ranks. An air force non-commissioned officer is said to have issued orders to generals to apprehend Erdogan."
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