Turkey issues arrest warrant for ex-CIA official over coup attempt

People hold a large Turkish flag during a march in July to mark the first anniversary of a coup attempt in Ankara, Turkey. File Photo by STR/EPA

Dec. 2 (UPI) — Turkish authorities issued an arrest warrant Friday for an ex-official with the Central Intelligence Agency over his alleged role in a failed coup attempt last year.

Graham Fuller was accused of being in Turkey at the time of the coup attempt in the country launched by military members in July 2016. After the attempt failed, Fuller left the country.

Istanbul’s Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office accused Fuller of attempting to overthrow the Turkish government and obstructing duties, obtaining state information that must be kept secret for political and military espionage purposes and attempting to overthrow constitutional order.

The warrant also says Fuller was in contact with Henri Barkey — an American academic who has also had a Turkish arrest warrant against him and others who played a role in the attempted coup.

Prosecutors accused Barkey of organizing and coordinating the coup attempt at a meeting on Istanbul’s Büyükada island last year — a meeting which authorities say Fuller was also a part of.

The arrest warrant came after Alexander Dugin, a Russian strategist, claimed during an interview that Fuller and Barkey both attended the meeting in Büyükada and said Russian intelligence possessed “concrete evidence that CIA agents commanded the failed coup attempt.”

In 2006, Fuller wrote a letter in support of Fethullah Gülen’s U.S. green card application. Gülen is considered to be the coup’s mastermind.

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