Alwaght- Turkish authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a former spy of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) over links to last year's failed coup.
According to Hurriyet daily the Istanbul prosecutor's office is seeking the detention of Graham Fuller, former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council and CIA officer in Turkey, on suspicion that he helped to plan the July 2016 coup attempt.
It said prosecutors had also issued an arrest warrant for Henri Barkey, a prominent Turkey scholar based in the United States, on suspicion of involvement in planning the coup.
The Istanbul prosecutor's office declined to comment on the matter.
The warrant had been issued as part of a broader FETO investigation by the Terror and Organized Crime Bureau of the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Fuller, who reportedly helped exiled Turkish opposition leader Fetullah Gulen secure US residency in the late 1990s, has been an outspoken supporter of Gulen in the US media.
Turkey accuses what it calls Fetullah Gulen Terror Organization (FETO), and Fetullah Gulen, who has been living in a self-imposed exile in the US since 1999, of orchestrating July 15, 2016 coup attempt which left 250 people dead and nearly 2,200 injured.
Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.
The judicial sources had said the warrant was issued on charges of violating the Turkish constitution, attempting to overturn the government, interfering in the government’s duties and espionage.
Fuller likened Turkey's elected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Stalin for the arrests of suspected coup backers
The arrest warrants will put further worsen ties between NATO allies Turkey and the United States, already at odds over a wide range of issues.
