Probe exposes FETÖ surveillance of 320,000 police officers

STATEMENTS of a secret eyewitness in a case against the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) revealed how far the tentacles of the group reached within law enforcement.

Codenamed “Garson,” the former member of the group behind a 2016 coup attempt, delivered an encrypted database of the group to police earlier. The National Intelligence Organization (MİT) deciphered the database in six years and discovered 3,000 infiltrators of FETÖ within the Turkish National Police.

New statements of “Garson” indicate that FETÖ maintained surveillance on 320,000 members of the police force for 16 years, up until its notorious first attempt to topple the government in December 2013. Encrypted lists of police officers show each was assigned a code based on their links to FETÖ or his/ her opposition to the group’s infiltration.

Speaking about the lists, “Garson” told investigators that they were created by the group’s handlers of infiltrators within law enforcement and they were regularly presented to FETÖ leadership, to give insight about the scope of their infiltration. The lists contain all details about officers in terms of their affiliation with the group and rate them on their “loyalty.”

He said that the data found in SD cards he handed to investigators were utilized while planning the infiltration of the group’s members to critical posts within police departments. Lists also helped other FETÖ members to pinpoint which infiltrators should be “aided” in promotion in their jobs. The terrorist group is known for stealing questions and answers to promotion exams to help its members rise in the ranks in the bureaucracy, military and law enforcement, and has been subject to numerous investigations on this issue. “(FETÖ) viewed the entirety of law enforcement as its own company,” he told the investigators. “They were involved in everything from employee rights of police officers and even the construction (of new police stations),” he said.