THE Turkish government has alerted Nigeria about the presence of a terror group, Fethullah Terrorist Organisation (FETÖ), in the country.
The organisation is led by Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish cleric who has been accused of masterminding the 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.
The Turkish government, through its ambassador-designate to Nigeria, Mehmet Poroy, warned that members of FETO existed in Nigeria and also operated in other countries worldwide.
Poroy, who was speaking Tuesday night in Abuja at a dinner organised by the Turkish Embassy to mark the country’s Democracy and National Unity Day, said the terrorist group had been using schools and health facilities as a cover for its activities in Nigeria.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the annual ceremony commemorates the failed 2016 coup in Turkey, blamed on FETO terrorists.
The Turkish government said the coup was successfully suppressed by the collective resistance of its patriotic forces and citizens, who opposed the mutiny against the government of President Tayyip Erdoğan.
According to Poroy, the continuous arrest and arrest of Gülen movement members worldwide underscores the national security threat they pose to any country where they are present.
“Unfortunately, the FETO terrorist organisation still maintains its activities in Nigeria, particularly in the fields of education and healthcare.
“We consistently inform our Nigerian friends about the nature and dangers of this organisation, and urge them to remain vigilant and cautious,” Poroy added.
He explained that through international cooperation, Turkey had disrupted numerous FETO cells and networks in allied countries globally.
The ambassador-designate stated that many institutions, particularly schools, that were part of FETO’s international network had been taken over by Turkish institutions.
He emphasised that the group’s international networks had not been fully dismantled globally.
He added that FETO continued to operate secretly in several countries, including Nigeria, under the guise of humanitarian aid, education, healthcare, and interfaith dialogue.
“You must not forget that behind this humanitarian appearance lies an organisation that seeks to infiltrate the political and bureaucratic institutions of host countries,” Poroy warned.
According to NAN, the Gülen movement, also known as Hizmet (meaning ‘Service’ in Turkish), is described as a transnational organisation focused on religion, education, and social activities.
Its founder, Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish Islamic scholar, died as a Turkish offender in October 2024 at the age of 83 in Pennsylvania, United States.
The Turkish government accuses Fethullah Gülen of orchestrating the 2016 coup attempt, which resulted in 251 deaths, and has designated the Gülen movement as a terrorist organisation.
Nine years after the coup attempt, Turkey remains committed to its global crackdown on the movement, which it claimed continued to operate globally, despite the group’s denial of being a terrorist organisation.
Turkey, in recent years, has launched a large-scale global operation against the movement, seizing or freezing billions of dollars’ worth of assets and institutions.
Several countries and organisations, including the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Gulf Cooperation Council, have designated the group as a terrorist institution.
The ICIR reports that Nigeria already has homegrown terrorists, including Boko Haram, which has unleashed attacks for over a decade.
The ICIR reported that no fewer than 6,549 Nigerians have been killed and 3,804 others abducted in incidents of mass atrocities across Nigeria since May 2024, according to data released by the Civil Society Leaders (CSL) on Wednesday, May 28.
The data was released at a media briefing by the Executive Director of Global Rights, Abiodun Baiyewu, in commemoration of its 8th National Day of Mourning for victims of mass atrocities.
Baiyewu, who explained that the data was curated from terrorists and bandits’ atrocities across the country, said that the CSL was making a patriotic call for justice amid the deafening silence of Nigerian leaders.
The group raised alarm about the emerging terror groups such as Lakurawa and Mahmuda, stating that they operated openly, extorting residents, imposing taxes, and demanding ransom in exchange for peace.
In seven separate demands, the group challenged the Nigerian government to track and disrupt ransom and extortion networks and hold the enablers and funders of terror accountable.
A reporter with the ICIR
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