Supporters of the Fethullah Gülen Organisation (FETO) in the TRNC are under pressure after the coup attempt in Turkey because operations against FETO have started in the North as well, Turkish Cypriot daily Star Kibris reports.
The undersecretary for Turkey’s Foreign Ministry visited the TRNC for meetings with officials, during which he discussed the issue of the FETO organisation with many departments.
It has been suggested that a trustee will be appointed for three universities, two colleges and some work places in the TRNC and that the student dormitories of universities belonging to Gulen have been abandoned as operations in the North began.
It was mentioned that Gulen’s organisation maintains more than 150 houses of in North Cyprus. Persons described as “older brothers or older sisters” offer religious education in these houses with the contribution of some imams.
Suleyman Cakir, chairman of the trade union of employees in the religious community, told Star Kibris that some imams and muezzins in North Cyprus are sympathizers of Fethullah Gulen’s ideas, but “they do not participate in treason“. Asked how many “nests” of Gulen’s organisation exist in the TRNC, Cakir noted that the organisation camouflages its activities presenting certain TRNC citizens as owners of these houses or refuges.
Star Kibris
