{"id":70774,"date":"2013-06-29T21:16:12","date_gmt":"2013-06-29T18:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/?p=70774"},"modified":"2023-04-18T12:08:21","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T09:08:21","slug":"turkish-intel-chief-exposes-cia-operations-via-islamic-group-in-central-asia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2013\/06\/29\/turkish-intel-chief-exposes-cia-operations-via-islamic-group-in-central-asia\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkish Intel Chief Exposes CIA Operations via Islamic Group in Central Asia"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

<\/h2>\n

Thursday, 6. January 2011<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the<\/strong> 1990s Gulen\u2019s Madrasas sheltered 130 CIA agents\u201d in Kyrgyzstan & Uzbekistan\u201d<\/strong><\/center>Yesterday Washington Post\u2019s Jeff Stein published a very interesting but incomplete story regarding a recently published memoir by former Turkish Intelligence Chief Osman Nuri Gundes. Here is the title of his post: Islamic group is CIA front, ex-Turkish Intel chief says<\/em>. For those of you familiar with my case and what I\u2019ve been covering here at Boiling Frogs Post this expos\u00e9 is \u2018old news\u2019 but nonetheless a vindication. As for those who are first-timers here or not that familiar with my case, this is an opportunity for a bit of background and to learn a few important points and facts that you won\u2019t be getting from this \u2018half-picture\u2019 presented by the Washington Post.<\/p>\n

In his memoir Gundes claims that Fethullah Gulen\u2019s worldwide Islamic movement based in Pennsylvania has been providing cover for the CIA since the mid-1990s, and that in the 90s, the movement \u201csheltered 130 CIA agents<\/em>\u201d at its schools in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan alone.<\/p>\n

Now, as I\u2019ve done before, I am going to praise Jeff Stain, whom I know and like, for his solid journalistic talent and background and give him a few credits for actually covering this story (it is one of those \u2018thou shall not cover\u2019 areas in an agreement between the US mainstream media and the US government), before I bash the piece, its half-a..\u00a0 coverage, incomplete background, and it\u2019s incredibly lenient treatment of a shady-dubious-charlatan, a major player in this operation yet a major denier when confronted by Stein; Graham Fuller. Again, as before, I am going to blame it on the unfortunate situation of \u2018having to sell your journalistic soul to earn your living.\u2019<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with Gulen. The only background provided on Gulen is the following with only one link which takes you to Gulen\u2019s marketing site:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026an influential former Turkish imam by the name of <\/em>Fethullah Gulen<\/em><\/span>, has 600 schools and 4 million followers around the world.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

The imam left Turkey in 1998 and settled in <\/em>Saylorsburg, Pa<\/em><\/span>., where the movement is headquartered. According to Intelligence Online, he obtained a residence permit only in 2008 with the help of Fuller and George Fidas, whom it described as head of the agency\u2019s outreach to universities.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"FThere is no mention of Gulen\u2019s decade-long \u2018wanted\u2019 status in Turkey (until recently), no mention of the ban on Gulen and his Madrasas in several Central Asian countries, no mention of various investigations of Gulen by other western countries, no mention of the unknown sources of his billions of dollars\u2026As we all know except for a very few, and by that I mean a number in 100s if that, no one in this country has ever heard of this guy with his billions, with his castle in Pennsylvania, his hundreds of Madrasas, now hundreds of US charter schools, his dubious businesses\u2026.Yet, for an article as serious as this (Madrasas and mosques as CIA operation centers in Central Asia), the central figure in the story has been given one sentence; no history, no relevant facts\u2026<\/p>\n

Those of you who have not read our previous commentaries and updates on this topic can check them out here, \u00a0here, here, and here, and below is a list of a few Gulen related facts totally (mysteriously?) absent from Washington Post piece:<\/p>\n

-In 1999 Gulen defected to the US shortly before his scandalous speech, where he is heard calling on his supporters to \u201cwork patiently and to creep silently into the institutions in order to seize power in the state\u201d, became public. Turkish prosecutors demanded<\/span> a ten-year sentence for G\u00fclen for having \u201cfounded an organization that sought to destroy the secular apparatus of state and establish a theocratic state\u201d. Mr. Gulen has not left the United States since.<\/p>\n

-The Netherlands has taken major steps to cut funding to all G\u00fclen associated organizations and is investigating his operations. The Turkish Fethullah G\u00fclen movement is really an Islamic fundamentalist group, claims Rotterdam council member Anita F\u00e4hmel (Leefbaar Rotterdam) on the basis of her own study of the Turkish movement.<\/p>\n

-The Russian government has banned<\/span> all G\u00fclen schools and the activities of the Nur sect in Russia. Over 20 Turkish followers of Gulen were deported<\/span> from Russia in 2002-2004.<\/p>\n

-In 1999 Uzbekistan closed all Gulen\u2019s Madrasas and shortly afterward arrested eight journalists who were graduates of Gulen schools, and found them guilty of setting up an illegal religious group and of involvement in an extremist organization.<\/p>\n

-In Turkmenistan, government authorities have placed Gulen\u2019s schools under close scrutiny and have ordered them to scrap the history of religion from curriculums.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, back to the story and its other major short coming:<\/p>\n

Apparently Mr. Stein was not able to reach Gulen for comment, so he moved on to his CIA sources with \u2018long ties to\u00a0 Central Asia<\/em>.\u2019 First he quotes his first source, Former CIA operative Robert Baer<\/span>, chief of the agency\u2019s Central Asia and Caucasus operations from 1995 through 1997, who called the allegations bogus. However, Mr. Baer added: \u201cIt\u2019s possible that the CIA turned around this ship after I left<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have a problem with Baer\u2019s response. Based on what I personally know, US Islamization Operations in Central Asia via Gulen started in late 1997, early 1998. That brings me to what truly set me off, Stein\u2019s second source and actually a character who is pointed to by the new memoir\u2019s author \u2013 Graham Fuller:<\/p>\n

Graham Fuller<\/em>, a former CIA station chief in Kabul and author of \u201cThe Future of Political Islam,\u201d threw cold water on Gundes\u2019s allegations about Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI think the story of 130 CIA agents in Gulen schools in Central Asia is pretty wild,\u201d Fuller said by e-mail.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI should hasten to add that I left CIA in 1987 \u2014 nearly 25 years ago \u2014 and I have absolutely no concrete personal knowledge whatsoever about this. But my instincts tell me the claim is highly improbable.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Next, Jeff Stein very gently confronts Fuller with the fact that according to the memoir and related media coverage Gulen obtained his US residence permit with his (Fuller\u2019s) help, and Fuller denies it and says that\u2019s \u2018wrong,\u2019:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I did do,\u201d Fuller explained, \u201cwas write a letter to the FBI in early 2006 \u2026at a time when Gulen\u2019s enemies were pressing for his extradition to Turkey from the U.S. In the post 9\/11 environment, they began spreading the word that he was a dangerous radical. In my statement to the FBI I offered my views\u2026that I did not believe he posed a security threat of any kind to the U.S. I still believe that today, as do a large body of scholars on contemporary Islam.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u2026<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

First of all, there have been tens if not hundreds of articles establishing Graham Fuller as one of Gulen\u2019s official references to the court for his residency, you can view some of these here, here, here. This quote comes from Foreign Policy Journal:<\/p>\n

Fethullah Gulen became a green card holder despite serious opposition from FBI and from Homeland Security Department. Former CIA officers (formally and informally) such as Graham Fuller and Morton Abromovitz were some of the prominent references in Gulen\u2019s green card application.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Next is the question of why. Why and in what capacity has Fuller been this active, this supportive, of Gulen? I am talking about this voluntary \u2018I wrote a letter to the FBI on Gulen\u2019 line:<\/p>\n

\u2026was write a letter to the FBI in early 2006 \u2026at a time when Gulen\u2019s enemies were pressing for his extradition to Turkey from the U.S. In the post 9\/11 environment, they began spreading the word that he was a dangerous radical. In my statement to the FBI I offered my views\u2026that I did not believe he posed a security threat of any kind to the U.S. I still believe that today, as do a large body of scholars on contemporary Islam.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And Stein let that slide?! I\u2019d quickly ask: \u2018how often do you write to the FBI on people you think have been unfairly targeted or treated by them?!\u2019<\/p>\n

Last but not least on Graham Fuller is my own on-the-record, more accurately, on-the-album, naming of individuals implicated (criminally) in my case, thus protected via invocation of the State Secrets Privilege:<\/p>\n

Coinciding with the publication of the first article in a series in Britain\u2019s Sunday Times covering some of her allegations, former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds posts a gallery of 18 photos of people and three images of question marks on her website, justacitizen.com The 21 images are divided into three groups, and the page is titled \u201cState Secrets Privilege Gallery.\u201d\u2026<\/em> \u201cThe third group includes people who all appear to work at think tanks\u2014primarily WINEP, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy\u201d: Graham E. Fuller\u2014RAND Corporation<\/strong>, David Makovsky\u2014WINEP, Alan Makovsky\u2014WINEP, ? (box with question mark), ? (box with question mark), Yusuf Turani (president-in-exile, Turkestan), Professor Sabri Sayari (Georgetown, WINEP), and Mehmet Eymur (former head of the Turkish intelligence agency MIT).<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2026<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I am going to leave you with the following excerpts from my interview<\/span> with Phil Giraldi for the Am Con Magazine in 2009, on Gulen, CIA Central Asia operations & the use of Islam and Mujahideen there-1997-2001, [All emphasis mine]:<\/p>\n

GIRALDI<\/strong>: You also have information on al-Qaeda, specifically al-Qaeda in Central Asia<\/strong> and Bosnia. You were privy to conversations that suggested the CIA was supporting al-Qaeda in central Asia and the Balkans<\/strong>, training people to get money, get weapons, and this contact continued until 9\/11\u2026<\/p>\n

EDMONDS<\/strong>: I don\u2019t know if it was CIA. There were certain forces in the U.S. government who worked with the Turkish paramilitary groups, including Abdullah \u00c7atli\u2019s group, Fethullah G\u00fclen<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

GIRALDI<\/strong>: Well, that could be either Joint Special Operations Command or CIA.<\/p>\n

EDMONDS<\/strong>: Maybe in a lot of cases when they said State Department, they meant CIA?<\/p>\n

GIRALDI<\/strong>: When they said State Department, they probably meant CIA.<\/p>\n

EDMONDS<\/strong>: Okay. So these conversations, between 1997 and 2001<\/strong>, had to do with a Central Asia operation that involved bin Laden. Not once did anybody use the word \u201cal-Qaeda.\u201d It was always \u201cmujahideen,\u201d always \u201cbin Laden\u201d and, in fact, not \u201cbin Laden\u201d but \u201cbin Ladens\u201d plural. There were several bin Ladens who were going on private jets to Azerbaijan and Tajikistan<\/strong>. The Turkish ambassador in Azerbaijan worked with them.<\/p>\n

There were bin Ladens, with the help of Pakistanis or Saudis, under our management. Marc Grossman was leading it, 100 percent, bringing people from East Turkestan into Kyrgyzstan<\/strong>, from Kyrgyzstan to Azerbaijan<\/strong>, from Azerbaijan some of them were being channeled to Chechnya, some of them were being channeled to Bosnia. From Turkey, they were putting all these bin Ladens on NATO planes. People and weapons went one way, drugs came back.<\/p>\n

GIRALDI<\/strong>: Was the U.S. government aware of this circular deal?<\/p>\n

EDMONDS<\/strong>: 100 percent. A lot of the drugs were going to Belgium on NATO planes. After that, they went to the UK, and a lot came to the U.S. via military planes to distribution centers in Chicago and Paterson, New Jersey. Turkish diplomats who would never be searched were coming with suitcases of heroin.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

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This site depends exclusively on readers\u2019 support. Please help us continue by contributing directly and or purchasing Boiling Frogs showcased products.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Tags: Al Qaeda, Balkans, Caucasus, Central Asia, CIA, CIA and Mujahideen, Fethullah Gulen, Fetullah Gulen, Graham Fuller, Gulen Madrasas, Gulen Movement, Jeff Stein, MIT, Mujahideen, Osman Nuri Gundes, Phil Giraldi, sibel edmonds, state secrets privilege, Turkey, Turkish Intelligence, Washington Post.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Posted in Uncategorized by Sibel Edmonds<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

4 Responses to \u201cTurkish Intel Chief Exposes CIA Operations via Islamic Group in Central Asia\u201d<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. January 6th, 2011 at 12:48 pm <\/small>
    \n\"avatar\"
    \njanissary<\/span><\/cite> Says:
    \nwell, it\u2019s not for me to micromanage your blog\u2026
    \nBut\u2026
    \nSince you have invoked the \u2018let\u2019s cut to the chase\u2019 clause on the maybe accurately labelled Post Puff Piece, you\u2019ll admit it\u2019s only fair if you are asked here to go the distance yourself Sibel.
    \nLike, isn\u2019t it time to talk about the assassination of the one(and only)political figure with the credibility, the will, and the *metaphorical* cojones to talk about the Bin Laden scam and it\u2019s covert backers back there in your current neighborhood,& the intricacies of the connecting dots between Ankara, Langley, T Aviv and points east,[curry anybody?] and maybe give us an internationally flavored update on that album of yours \u2013 specially since you\u2019re not in that category of hacks who have \u201cto sell your journalistic soul to earn your living\u201d ??
    \nDon\u2019t get me wrong, I already think of you as a superhero, but in order to loosen the purse strings of this section of your fan club and keep you above the fray, you just gotta go there\u2026.those here here and heres just won\u2019t do it. Gulen is small potatoes\u2026let\u2019s have the mains!<\/li>\n
  2. January 6th, 2011 at 4:57 pm <\/small>
    \n\"avatar\"
    \nSimon<\/cite> Says:
    \nThank You Sibel for this in depth report. I plan to send another donation your way soon. Meanwhile, since it is all about war and oil profits, these Wikileaks cables shed some light on the larger picture: Turkey cable:
    \nIn response, we will take additional steps to protect local contacts and stay vigilant against regime efforts to track our interactions with them, while redoubling efforts to expand the range of Turkey-based contacts willing to share Iran-related insights.
    \nTurkish-Iranian Business Council cautioned him that the TIBC needs to be more careful in ensuring that its Iranian partners are not given a reason \u201cto doubt our commitment to expanding bilateral commerce while staying out of politics.\u201d This contact pledged to try to help set up a meeting for us with the TIBC executive board, but declined an offer to meet socially in the near-term. U.S. Consul General Sharon Anderholm Wiener.<\/p>\n

    Second Turkey cable: On missile defense, we will look for the Secretary\u2019s help in advancing our work with Turkey to persuade the Turks to allow a AN\/TPY-2 radar system to be based here. The Turks are struggling to define what they will need in terms of NATO political cover to lessen the high cost \u2013 both in terms of domestic politics and in relations with Iran \u2013 that Erdogan\u2019s government believes it will have to pay should they agree. Our advocacy support for Raytheon and Sikorsky on sales of air defense systems and utility helicopters. <\/span><\/li>\n

  3. January 6th, 2011 at 5:50 pm <\/small>
    \n\"avatar\"
    \nTuran Erbil<\/cite> Says:
    \nSibel;
    \nThanks again for your frank decipering of the Gulen Movement\u2019s operations in tandem with the CIA in Central Asia. As you know, much has been written about this CIA and Gulen connection in our native Turkiye. Here is an excerpt of what Dr. Mizell a Kurdish writer has to say:
    \nWhy does America support G\u00fclen\u2019s missionaries in Central Asia and around the globe and even in the US? After the collapse of the Soviet Union the balance of power in the world changed, and more than 15 countries got their independence from the Soviet Union. There was a gap in power in the region seeking to be filled; additionally, most of these newly independent countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan were rich with the underground resources of oil, gas, gold, and other materials. However, a void for religion developed as well, so there was a competition among an Iranian brand of Islam, a Saudi Arabian version of Islam, and G\u00fclen\u2019s missionaries to fill the void. The US government gave its support to G\u00fclen, because it mistakenly believed that G\u00fclen\u2018s missionaries were less harmful compared to the Iranian Islamic movement Hezbollah, Saudi\u2018s brand of Islam Wahhbism, or other fundamentalist groups. The US thought that G\u00fclen\u2019s movement could be managed in the right way by using it to suit America\u2019s purposes. Because many naively believe that G\u00fclen\u2019s preaches nonviolence and dialogue between the western and Muslim worlds, they let their guard down and fail to see behind his proclaimed agenda. They fail to understand that he is incrementally moving toward a return of the Islamic state such as the Ottoman Empire undertook. That is why when G\u00fclen applied for a green card, he could not get it. Then some ex-CIA officers gave him reference letters for his application to demonstrate that he was a safe immigrant. Prior to this attempt, when G\u00fclen could not get a green card the first time, he was looking for a place to go; if the US did not grant him a visa, he would have gone to China to continue his undercover operation. G\u00fclen\u2019s missionaries are trying to build the same platform as he used in Central Asia in the US by opening many NGOS, charter schools\u2026..
    \nread the entire study below<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
  4. January 17th, 2011 at 1:57 am <\/small>
    \n\"avatar\"
    \nMike<\/cite> Says:
    \nAccording to the source below, included in these Bosnian and Central Asian Islamic fighters were eleven or more of the alleged 9\/11 hijackers. And if \u201celements in the US Government\u201d supported these fighters for some agenda, this seems a lot closer to 9\/11 than the 80s in Afghanistan. With regard to what the agenda might have been for these \u201celements\u201d for the NATO Bosnian war, where these fighters fought the same enemies of NATO, was an interview with Prof. Chomsky who says that the justification for this war to \u201cstop a genocide\u201d was wrong, the genocides pointed to by his reading of the media at the time started after the NATO bombing. The real reason for this war in his opinion is that Serbia \u201cwas the last corner of Europe which has not subordinated itself to the US-run neoliberal programs, so it had to be eliminated.\u201d A definite alternate agenda seems likely if he is right about the genocide starting after the bombings even if his opinion on the reasoning for the war is wrong.<\/p>\n

     <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Leave a Reply<\/h3>\n

    You must be logged in to post a comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Thursday, 6. January 2011 \u201cIn the 1990s Gulen\u2019s Madrasas sheltered 130 CIA agents\u201d in Kyrgyzstan & Uzbekistan\u201dYesterday Washington Post\u2019s Jeff Stein published a very interesting but incomplete story regarding a recently published memoir by former Turkish Intelligence Chief Osman Nuri Gundes. Here is the title of his post: Islamic group is CIA front, ex-Turkish Intel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":70775,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}