Türkiye vows to prevent FETO-like infiltration of state: Hakan Fidan

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Wednesday that Türkiye is implementing measures to prevent structures resembling the Fetullah Terrorist Organization from ever again embedding themselves within state institutions, speaking to reporters at a train station in Przemysl, Poland, before departing for Ukraine.

FETO's 'usefulness ended'

"FETO is now a structure whose period of usefulness has ended. Despite this, it continues its struggle against the state," Fidan said, adding that the organization also targets the country's elected leadership and cooperates with international power networks. He urged members living abroad to reject the group's leadership and return to genuine loyalty to their country, arguing that senior figures were using remaining supporters to maintain relevance and serve foreign intelligence services.

The Turkish state and public entered a new struggle for liberation following the July 15, 2016 defeated coup attempt, during which Ankara dealt major blows to domestic and foreign terrorist networks — the plotters, a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces linked to FETO, opened fire on civilians and bombed state institutions, killing 253 people and wounding thousands. "The measures we take and the regulations we introduce will hopefully ensure that such structures cannot find a place within the system, either today or in the future. All our efforts are directed toward this," Fidan said, noting that removing FETO-linked elements had allowed the government to return to its fundamental mission of serving the public.

Train journey to Kyiv

Fidan is traveling to Kyiv by train on a journey expected to take approximately 10 hours because Ukrainian airspace remains closed, and is expected to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his Ukrainian counterpart to convey messages from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following his visit to Moscow last month where he delivered Erdogan's messages to President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The trip comes after recent diplomatic contacts including US President Donald Trump's visit to Türkiye, a NATO summit in Ankara and a coalition of the willing leaders' meeting in Paris, which Fidan attended on Erdogan's behalf. European countries broadly follow two approaches toward the conflict — supporting Ukraine's war effort and seeking ways to end the fighting — while "Türkiye is more focused on the track of how the war can be stopped," Fidan said, referencing Ankara's hosting of Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul last year and its brokering of the Black Sea grain agreement.