Soldier's testimony reveals how Gülenists lured recruits

A petty military official with Turkey's Gendarmerie has described in his testimony to prosecutors in the southeastern province of Hakkari his links to the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), giving an account of the way the group recruits boys and young men to serve its goals.

The non-commissioned officer identified as S.A. described in prosecution documents over the July 15 failed coup attempt how he was approached by Gülenist students while in high school and went on to join the group at university before they instructed him to enlist in the military.

He was enlisted with the help of Gülenists who gave him the answers to the military entrance exam and eventually became a member of the technical intelligence staff involved in wiretapping in the weeks leading up to the December 2013 wiretapping scandal that shook Turkish politics.

S.A. told prosecutors how he was provided with four telephone numbers by his contact just a month before the scandal, which saw a number of ministers and officials close to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was Turkey's prime minister at the time, accused of corruption in an investigation that was heavily reliant on wiretapping.

The government said FETÖ-linked police and prosecutors were behind the wiretapping inquiry, which targeted more than 7,000 people, in an effort to bring down the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.
S.A. said he was posted to the intelligence department of the Gendarmerie Regimental Command in the Aegean province of İzmir when he carried out the eavesdropping.

Recalling his introduction to the group, S.A. said he was a high school student when he met a group of older university students.

"They offered to help with my school courses, saying...