A former NATO officer of Turkey has said he/she does not feel safe in his/her place in Belgium as clandestine activities by the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party) supporters as well spying by the Turkish intelligence agency (MİT) which has extended its intel operations into European countries in the recent past.
Giving an interview to the European news portal, VocalEurope, he/she stated that he/she feels insecure in Belgium where he lives. He/she said that: “I think that there is a possibility for it. Recently, Turkey passed a law that gave permission for the intelligence agency to conduct operations in other countries. So there is a risk. Thus I cannot take any risk for the security of myself and my family. Taking into account that pro-Erdogan people living in Europe are easy fits to Turkish intelligence to gather info, I try to organize my life as appropriate for not to take any risk. I also know that some Turkish Military senior officials have provided Turkish General Staff a list of officers who applied for asylum in Belgium.”
According to the military officer, who demanded to be kept his name anonymous, three types of military officers involved in the coup attempt in July 15, 2016: “First; a very small group who initiated the coup attempt and stepped aside afterwards. This is the group that masterminded the coup plot. Judging by who benefited from the coup attempt; this group included Ultranationalists (Perinçek Group), and those with ties to Erdogan regime or were simply bought off. Secondly, those who believed that the coup was being done in chain of command so obeyed the orders. This included seculars and other Erdogan opponents, who were aware of the widely circulated purge lists and thus might have felt relieved by what they thought was a coup in chain of command. The secular elite had too much with the Erdogan’s policies. And finally third, those who saw it as an opportunity to rise in the ranks. Those simply, did not care too much whether it was done in chain of command or not, but saw it as an opportunity to rise in the ranks.”
The officer who joined Turkish Military in 1985 and later got master’s degree in the United States, stated that after the coup attempt, his NATO assignment was cancelled, and he was among the 270 other officers abroad who have been recalled to Turkey for “judicial investigation”.
“I was in Belgium at the time of the coup. There is no evidence of any Turkish officers in Belgium or abroad getting involved. But when I saw that first 17 officers who returned were detained and treated badly, I decided to wait until there is rule of law in the country I have served for many years.”
The military officer said that “since the “coup-fiction” more than 4000 soldiers got sacked from the army, air force, navy, gendarmerie and coastguard. Total number of those got sacked in post-coup purge reaches at 124.000. Around 89.000 detained, and 43.000 arrested. I am not sure whether the government has got any legal and valid evidence to blame all those people for involving coup attempt in some way.”
