Turkish spies detain the nephew of the preacher Gülen, Erdogan's rival, in Kenya

Flanked by Turkish flags, handcuffed and grimace. This is how the semi-official Turkish agency Anadolu has shown for the first time Selahaddin Gülen, nephew of the preacher whom Turkey accused of orchestrating the bloody failed coup in 2016 that left 251 dead, many civilians. According to Anadolu, MIT, the Turkish secret services, “caught” the individual, who had a search and arrest warrant for “membership of a terrorist group”. His entourage denounces his “kidnapping” in Kenya.

In a video on social networks, Seriyye Gülen, the woman, explains that Selahaddin had been living in the African country since last November, and that he lost track of her on May 3.. He believes that he could have been transferred to Turkish soil two days later. Ankara has not officially announced the arrest of the nephew, whose name had not been mentioned to date in connection with the riot. Only President Erdogan, on the 19th of last month, promised to publicize the capture of “an important name” from the Gülen group.

This brotherhood had acted for years under the protection of the same Erdogan Administration, who at that time did not skimp on praise for Fethullah, who, despite this, never wanted to renounce the exile in the US that he had imposed on himself some time ago, after years of judicial persecution.. Their piety and ideology made them ideal partners in purging the Turkish state apparatus of elements hostile to Erdogan's AKP party, especially secularists, heavily organized in the military.

But, as prosecutors loyal to Gülen opened all kinds of legal cases against his enemies and those of Erdogan -some with more than doubtful evidence-, and the apparatus was fed by new officials trained in the schools and universities that Gülenism opened, the power of the movement grew until it could compete with that of its hitherto ally. It was a matter of time before the preacher's followers challenged Erdogan. It is believed that the coup was the culmination of that internal struggle.

Offensive against the “Gülenists”

After his failure, Erdogan and his followers embarked on a massive purge to reverse previous infiltrations, which ended up affecting hundreds of political opponents who had nothing to do with the Gülenist movement, renamed FETÖ (Fethullah Gülen Terrorist Organization).. Meanwhile, hundreds of supporters, including Selahaddin Gülen, were trying to flee the country through irregular routes, including boats loaded with Asian and African immigrants trying to reach Greece.

The Turkish counter-offensive spread to countries where Gülenists had once settled under the pretext of opening cultural institutions. The hunt for Gülenists, in order to extradite them back to Turkey, turned out to be often controversial. When Ankara accused six of its citizens deported by Kosovo in 2018 of ties to Gülen, the Kosovar prime minister denied having authorized such deportations.. The controversy resulted in the replacement of his Interior Minister and the head of Intelligence.

To achieve their objectives, the Turks have resorted to a series of stratagems, from exerting political pressure to, according to members of the Gülenist brotherhood, capturing them in the middle of the street. The first method has worked, above all, with countries that maintain strong ties with Ankara.. In other cases, such as that of Fetullah Gülen himself, local authorities, in this case the US, have allegedly turned a deaf ear to Turkish demands. Another way has been the issuance of Interpol red notices, which are triggered when someone wanted passes through customs and which, according to critics, some authoritarian governments use to capture political opponents.

This happened on October 17, according to an affidavit read by The New York Times.. Selahaddin Gülen landed in Kenya on a tourist visa and was promptly arrested on a red notice for “a case of alleged child abuse.”. Gülen's nephew claimed that he had been acquitted of it in 2008. Two days later, a court ordered his release pending his extradition request..

According to the lawyer, Jotham Okome Arwa, early last month, while attending a hearing on his case, Selahaddin Gülen disappeared. Days later, Turkish Intelligence announced his capture, with no explanation from Kenyan institutions as to the circumstances, despite the judge’s request. Although many of them are still blurry, the details of the operation are highly reminiscent of the capture in Kenya of the leader of the Kurdish PKK armed group, Abdullah Öcalan, in 1999.

Öcalan, accused by Turkey of more than 30,000 deaths during the active years of the PKK with him at the head, landed in the African country after a long journey through countries that had refused to take him in, under pressure from Ankara. His odyssey ended somewhere along the route between the Greek ambassador’s residence in Nairobi and the capital’s airport, where the ringleader was on his way to catch a new flight in search of another place to take him in.