Turkish Cyprus has declared that it has designated the Fethullahist
Terror Organization (FETÖ) as a terrorist organization, after the group
allegedly tried to topple the Turkish government with a failed coup
attempt on July 15.
Hüseyin Özgürgün, the prime minister of
Turkish Cyprus, said on July 21 after a cabinet meeting that FETÖ had
been listed as a terror organization by the Turkish Cypriot government
and that it would take effect after the cabinet’s decision was published
in the Official Gazette on the island.
He added he would talk about FETÖ with his counterpart when he paid a visit to the Turkish capital of Ankara.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
and the Turkish government accuse U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah
Gülen and his followers in FETÖ of infiltrating state structures to form
a “parallel state” and organizing the coup attempt on July 15, which
failed within some 12 hours.
Gülen had been a close ally of the government until recently and has lived in the United States since 1999.
Answering
a question, Özgürgün said there had been “rumors” there were FETÖ
actions in the Turkish Cypriot administration but they were not serious
intelligence that required an official response.
The Turkish
government has sought the extradition of Gülen for over two years, but
only a few days ago issued a formal request to the United States.