Turkey's Qatar envoy briefs foreign diplomats on coup bid

By Ahmed Yusuf

DOHA

The Turkish embassy to Qatar on Monday briefed foreign diplomats on last month’s coup attempt in Turkey and the dangers posed by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) led by U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen.

The meeting was organized by Turkey’s embassy in Doha and attended by a number of foreign diplomats and Qatari Foreign Ministry officials.

"The people’s thwarting of the July 15 coup attempt was a watershed in the history of Turkish democracy," Turkish Ambassador Ahmet Demirok told those in attendance.

He went on to note that some three million people took part in a massive pro-democracy rally held in Istanbul last week.

"It [the rally] was a landmark event; it was the first rally that brought together the president, prime minister and opposition party leaders," Demirok asserted.

On July 15, a renegade faction within Turkey’s military attempted to overthrow the country’s democratically-elected government.

Widely believed to have been orchestrated by Gulen and his followers, the failed putsch left at least 240 martyrs in its wake.

Gulen is also accused of conducting a long-running campaign to overthrow the Turkish government through the infiltration of state institutions -- especially the military, police and judiciary -- with the aim of creating a "parallel state".

At the meeting in Doha, Demirok said that the Turkish people and party leaders believed that Gulen and his "parallel state" were behind the coup bid.

He also defended the three-month state of emergency imposed by the Turkish authorities in the wake of the failed coup.

"Turkey is fully aware of its obligations regarding democracy, human rights and the rule of law," he said, warning that FETO continued to pose a threat "to all the countries in which it operates".