On the skin, Ercan Karakoyun merely seems because the proprietor of a series of kindergartens in Germany. But this unassuming-looking man residing in a fancy villa in Dallgow-Doberitz, a small city in Brandenburg, is among the many most needed suspects affiliated with the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). He was instrumental in serving to some 5,000 members of the terrorist group behind a 2016 coup try in Türkiye take shelter in Germany.
Germany is not any stranger to FETÖ members and regardless of protests by Ankara, repeatedly allowed the terrorist group’s members to freely reside inside its borders and granted some amongst them asylum.
German-born Karakoyun is the third distinguished title from FETÖ photographed in Germany by the Sabah newspaper, which earlier tracked down Cevheri Güven, a well known title in FETÖ circles who carries out FETÖ propaganda work overseas and Mehmet Karabörk, a former police chief with three excellent arrest warrants.
Karakoyun assumed the function of the terrorist group’s “chief” for Europe after his predecessor Abdullah Aymaz fled to Pennsylvania, United States, the place FETÖ chief Fetullah Gülen resides, within the aftermath of the 2016 putsch bid. In his function, he organized the affairs of FETÖ for its fugitive members, serving to them to earn political asylum and residence in Germany. Indeed, Karakoyun advises a neighborhood fee dealing with asylum functions. He serves on the board of the Dialogue and Education Foundation of FETÖ, which helps the terrorist group’s members who fled Türkiye get lodging in protected homes. The basis’s legal professionals assist the fugitives full authorized procedures for asylum.
The basis was based by Karakoyun in 2013 in Berlin. Karakoyun, who can be a founding member of the Forum for Intercultural Dialogue, was additionally behind House of One, a controversial undertaking that seemingly promotes inter-religious dialogue however drew criticism from Muslims. In 2017, he penned a guide about Gülen, selling him as a reasonable Muslim preacher.
Karakoyun is on the “grey list” of essentially the most needed terrorist listing of the Interior Ministry. Türkiye sought the extradition of Karakoyun in 2020, on the grounds that he was a senior determine of FETÖ however Germany rejected the request, citing he was born in Germany. On the opposite hand, Germany additionally rejected the extradition of Turkish-born names, together with Adil Öksüz, the mastermind of the 2016 coup bid, in addition to FETÖ-linked prosecutors Zekeriya Öz and Celal Kara.
Germany has been traditionally house to a lot of supporters of the PKK and different teams acknowledged as terrorists by Türkiye and the European Union. FETÖ, apparently inspired by this, instructed its members to take shelter within the European nation after the coup try.
Acting underneath the guise of a charity motion, FETÖ is broadly tolerated in Germany the place about 14,000 of its members who fled Türkiye earlier than and after the coup try reside. While most of Türkiye’s different allies, particularly nations in Africa, cooperate with Ankara in shutting down FETÖ colleges and deporting the group’s members, Germany typically faces criticism from Turkish officers for its tolerant coverage in direction of FETÖ.
Along with the embrace by Berlin, FETÖ members discover help from fellow members of the group within the type of a nonprofit that seemingly goals to assist “refugees.” Aktion für Flüchtlingshilfe (Aid Action for Refugees), linked to FETÖ, helps the group’s members arriving from Türkiye study German and discover jobs and lodging within the nation.
Group members who give interviews to German media shops verify an exodus of FETÖ members from Türkiye to Germany within the aftermath of the thwarted coup try. Data from the German Interior Ministry reveals that 296 individuals bearing diplomatic passports and 881 others with service passports – issued to public sector staff, troopers, and so forth. – utilized for asylum in Germany from July 2016 to June 2018, and most are believed to be FETÖ infiltrators within the navy and paperwork. Half of them had been granted asylum.
After the coup try, FETÖ tried to maintain a low profile in Germany amid a backlash from the Turkish neighborhood within the nation. Half of the “study centers” that supply lessons for Turkish youngsters had been closed down, whereas three out of 25 FETÖ-linked colleges needed to be closed when Turkish households pulled their youngsters from these colleges after the coup try. Seeking to cover their connections to FETÖ, these colleges began altering names. For occasion, the Dialogue High School in Cologne, which was named after Gülen’s “interfaith dialogue” initiative, was renamed the Ferdinand Franz Wallraf Gymnasium. For survival, these colleges depend totally on youngsters of FETÖ suspects who fled Türkiye in 2016.
The terrorist group additionally runs a foyer group to revive its tarnished picture and is thought to funnel thousands and thousands of euros for public relations campaigns in favor of what they known as the Hizmet (Service) Movement.
Karakoyun serves as a spokesperson for FETÖ and sometimes giving interviews with German media shops. In one such interview 5 years in the past, he stated Germany has been “a new center” for the group, citing it “cannot survive in (Türkiye).” Karakoyun stated in the identical interview that the group has a major presence in Germany, including that new arrivals “will be as active there as they were in (Türkiye).”
