Turkish lawmaker says FETO behind US case

By Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA

A ruling party lawmaker said on Thursday that the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind last year’s coup in Turkey, is responsible for a current case against a Turkish banker in New York.

Speaking to journalists in parliament, Justice and Development (AK) Party Metin Bulut said that the evidence against the banker is based on “forged documents”.

Bulut compared the case to the December 2013 plot against government ministers and leading businesspeople.

"The documents in this case are the same forged documents which showed up on Dec. 17," said Bulut,

He was referring to a so-called graft probe against top government officials to overthrow Turkey’s elected government followed by a large-scale raid on Dec. 17-25, 2013, which led to the detention of prominent figures.

"This plot was made by U.S. prosecutors who have a [FETO-like] mentality," said Bulut, referring to the FETO-linked prosecutors in the 2013 plot.

Bulut said the U.S. prosecutors leveled the same accusations that FETO's prosecutors had made in 2013.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the July 15, 2016, defeated coup attempt in Turkey, which martyred 250 and left nearly 2,200 injured.

‘Fake evidence’

Bulut called on U.S. prosecutors not to use “fake evidence,” saying: "This case is judicially void, it’s politically motivated."

Turkish businessman Riza Sarraf on Wednesday accepted all the charges against him and agreed to cooperate with U.S. prosecutors as a witness against Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the former deputy CEO of Turkey’s Halkbank.

Sarraf was detained last year on charges of violating sanctions against Iran, while Atilla was arrested in the U.S. earlier this year on similar sanctions violations charges.

The trial began on Tuesday.

Turkey recently launched a probe against the U.S. prosecutors connected to the case.

Istanbul prosecutors accused former U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York, Preet Bharara, and his replacement Joon H. Kim of using information and documents from an old Turkish investigation in their case.

Bharara, who launched the probe into Sarraf, was fired on March 11 as part of a mass Trump administration housecleaning of the U.S. attorneys who served under President Barack Obama.

Turkish authorities have called on the U.S. administration to drop the case involving Sarraf, saying it "lacks legal grounds."