“I have not set foot in or even near Turkey in five years. […] The night of the coup attempt in Turkey I happen to have been addressing a group of 100 people or so right here in the town in western Canada where I have been living for the last 15 years.”

Graham Fuller — December 2 2017

Turkey’s chief prosecutor has issued an arrest warrant for former CIA officer Graham Fuller. Contrary to many reports, Fuller was NOT in Turkey during the July 16 Coup as INTEL TODAY reported correctly since the very beginning. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

RELATED POST: THE FULLER MEMORANDUM – May 1985. Why it still matters today

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RELATED POST: GERMANY — BND: “Gulen not behind Turkey coup attempt”

First of all, the warrant accuses Graham Fuller of “attempting to overthrow” Turkey’s government.

But the charges against Fuller also include “obtaining state information that must be kept secret for political and military espionage purposes.” [Whatever that means exactly…]

The Turkish government has blamed US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen — often described as a CIA asset and Fuller’s protégé — of orchestrating the attempted Coup of July 2016.

On Friday (December 1 2017), Fuller emailed a statement to major news agencies, denying all Turkish government’s allegations.

“A Choice Target”

Fuller rejected the claim that he was in Turkey “directing the coup attempt” on July 16 2016.

As a matter of fact, Fuller was speaking to a group of 100 people in Canada that night and hasn’t been to Turkey in the last five years.

The former CIA analyst said Turkish suspicions that the agency may be behind the botched coup were not unfounded because of past U.S. government practices.

He expressed serious doubt, however, over any CIA involvement in last year’s “pathetic, ill-conceived and amateurish, coup attempt.”

He also expressed doubt over Gulen “ordering” the coup and said many in European intelligence shared the view.

“I am only marginally swept up among many Turks in the ongoing wave of arrests, persecutions and cashiering of tens of thousands of Turks—journalists, judges, academics, military officers, police officers—all perceived as enemies of Erdogan’s state. […] I, at least, am lucky not to be living there, a country I have long admired.”

Short Bio

Graham Fuller  (born November 28, 1937) is a former CIA analyst, who worked many years in the Middle East and Asia before retiring to the academic world some 30 years ago.

Fuller is also an author and political analyst, specializing in Islamic extremism. He is currently Adjunct Professor of History at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada.

He has lived and worked overseas for nearly two decades, speaks a number of languages of the region, is the author of many articles on international politics and a dozen books on Turkey, Central Asia, Iran, the Middle East as well as political Islam.

The Fuller Memorandum

Fuller is former CIA officer who served as Station Chief in Kabul and Turkey for the CIA.

He was the vice-chair of the National Intelligence Council. A “think piece” that Fuller wrote for the CIA was identified as instrumental in leading to the Iran–Contra affair.

You can read the document here: THE FULLER MEMORANDUM – MAY 1985

Fuller and Gulen

There is a rumor — to put it mildly — that Fuller intervened among different organizations to pave the way for Fethullah Gülen’s residence in USA. Gulen and Fuller have carried out some investigations into Kurds’ matters.

Fuller has indeed a strong interest in Turkey geopolitics. His daughter goes by the name of Samantha ANKARA Fuller.

Henri Barkey

Fuller co-authored a book with Henri Barkey : Turkey’s Kurdish Question. In October 2017, a warrant was also issued for US-based academic Henri Barkey.The warrant for Barkey accuses him of participating in the coup attempt.

Barkey had led a human rights workshop in Istanbul at the time of the coup. He has described the accusations against him as “cynical attempts to blame Washington and bully the United States into extraditing Mr. Gülen.”

Another warrant was issued for former opposition lawmaker Aykan Erdemir, who is currently living in Washington.

Who am I? What makes me enemy or friend? | Graham Fuller | TEDxLimassol

REFERENCES

Turkey seeks arrest of ex-CIA officer Fuller over coup plot — BBC NEWS (DEC 1 2017)

Ex-CIA analyst rejects Turkish claims of involvement in coup — AP

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Turkey’s chief prosecutor issues an arrest warrant for ex-CIA Graham Fuller