ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Retired CIA official, Graham Fuller, dismissed accusations by Turkey that he was involved in the failed coup attempt last year following an arrest warrant for his detention announced by Turkish media on Friday. Fuller, a retired CIA analyst, said he was accused by Turkey of being a “CIA handler” of US-based cleric Fetullah Gulen, who Turkish President Recep Tayyip Edrogan claims is responsible for orchestrating last year’s coup attempt, The Associated Press reported on Saturday. Gulen denies the accusations and has denounced Erdogan's consolidation of power, calling him a “dictator.” Turkey issued an arrest warrant for “violating the Turkish constitution, attempting to overturn the government, interfering in the government’s duties and espionage,” as reported by state-run Anadolu Agency on Friday. The arrest warrant also stated that Fuller was in Turkey on July 15, 2016, the date of the coup attempt and left the country shortly after the failure of the attempted takeover. In an emailed statement to AP late Friday, Fuller rejected claims that he was in Turkey during that time and said that he was in Canada on that day speaking to a group of 100 people and that he hasn’t been to Turkey in five years. Fuller hasn’t served for the CIA in Turkey since the 1960’s and said he met Gulen only once 15 years ago in Istanbul, which wasn’t until after he had already retired from the CIA. He is an author specializing in Islamic extremism and said he was “impressed” by the Gulen movement’s “progressive and tolerant visions of Islam.” Fuller expressed doubt over any CIA involvement in the “pathetic, ill-conceived and amateurish, coup attempt” in Turkey. He also doubts that Gulen had any hand in “ordering” the coup to take place and that many people in European intelligence shared his beliefs.
