Conservative British MP Sir Edward Garnier
According to British newspaper The Times, Conservative British MP Sir Edward Garnier was paid $152,951 in February 2015 “to co-research and author a document titled ‘A Report on the Rule of Law and Respect for Human Rights in Turkey’.” Turkey’s government accuses Fethullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO), headed by US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, of organising July 15’s coup attempt.
The newspaper says the report “focused exclusively on actions by the Turkish government against Gulen-linked organisations.” FETO had already been listed as a terrorist organisation when the report was written. The research was commissioned by The Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF), an Istanbul based Gulenist-linked organisation that still designates Gulen as its honorary president.
The publication said, “Sir Edward insists that he and the other authors of the report are not supporters or adherents of the Gulen movement, but wrote the report as independent English lawyers based on the evidence we had reviewed.”
The report was sent to prominent figures in British politics, including former Prime Minister David Cameron and former Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.
The Conservative MP for Harborough stood against UK’s support for Turkey’s accession to the EU during a Commons debate in March, alleging “serial and appalling human rights and rule of law abuses by the Turkish government.”
“Although he mentioned his contribution to the report in his Commons statement, he did not reveal that it had been commissioned by a group linked to the Gulen movement,” the newspaper added.
Gulen repeatedly denied the accusations saying that the failed coup, during which dozens of civilians were killed by soldiers involved in the coup attempt, looked ‘like a Hollywood movie.’
However, credible evidence including testimony by the Turkish Chief of StaffHulusi Akar suggests Gulen’s involvement in the deadly coup attempt.
Akar last Monday testified as a plaintiff to Ankara prosecutors, and said while he was held hostage by pro-coup soldiers, General Hakan Evrim, the commander of a main jet base, asked him to speak to Gulen over the phone.
“Hakan Evrim said they could put me on phone with Fethullah Gulen, who he described as their ‘opinion leader’,” Akar said.
The failed coup killed more than 230 people and injured nearly 2,200 others.
Gulen is accused of a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary, forming what is commonly known as the parallel state. (On TRT World and AA)
