Gülenists 'abused' efforts to enhance democracy: Ruling AKP official

Facing threats from the tutelage system of the military and the judiciary, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was set to democratize the state and opened a large space for civil society, a high-level AKP official has said. According to AKP deputy head Mahir Ünal, the Gülenists ran an illegal organization that posed as a civil organization. He dismissed claims that Gülenists became stronger under their administration, saying, "While this structure, which was posing as a civil organization, supported democratization, their infiltration into the state speeded up." 

"While we tried to strengthen civil space, it turned out that we jumped out of the frying pan into fire," he told the Daily News on the first anniversary of the July 15, 2016, coup attempt, widely believed to have been orchestrated by the followers of the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen. 

What could have happened had the coup been successful?

In previous coups, putschists would change the political actors and go to elections. This (parallel state) structure would not have done so and would have ended it with a total occupation. Let's not think that this organization, which has penetrated the state in the past 40 years, has done it all by itself. We know that this is about the global forces trying to seize control over Turkey. Had this coup been successful, neither our independence, freedom nor our democratic republic would have survived. We would have turned into a colony.

What do the findings after the coup attempt tell us about the dimension of the threat that Turkey has averted?

After we realized that this was a parallel state structure, we became aware of many things but could not...