Who is this Hulus-i Sani: What was written in the letter allegedly sent by Akar to Gülen?

Ersin Eroğlu

As the eighth anniversary of the July 15 FETÖ coup attempt approaches, the war within the organization has resurfaced with the statements made by Ebuseleme Gülen, the nephew of FETÖ leader Fethullah Gülen.

Stating that July 15 was planned right before his eyes, Ebuseleme Gülen made the following post on his social media account:

“The 'abiler' (senior members) trapped Hocaefendi. Barbaros, Cevdet, Doctor Ali, Ali Sami, Adil. You planned it right in front of my eyes. You presented it to my teacher and forced his hand. He told me, 'What can I do, my child, they deceived me too.'” To those who questioned whether he was truly Gülen's nephew, he responded by sharing a video from the farm in Pennsylvania where Gülen lives. In the video, nephew Gülen said, “They kidnapped Hocaefendi, our teacher is no longer there.”

'THEY CALLED HIM HULUS-I SANI, MEANING THE SECOND HULUSI'

The incident where the internal reckoning and debate first erupted was actually the Osman Şimşek case.

Şimşek, one of Gülen's first students who settled in the US with him, was beaten and expelled from the Pennsylvania compound by Cevdet Türkyolu in 2021.

Şimşek did not deny the events, stating that Türkyolu was involved in corruption and had placed Mehmet Değerli in the camp before July 15. Şimşek claimed that Mehmet Değerli brought letters from Hulusi Akar and convinced Gülen to support the coup. Şimşek also added that it was unlikely for someone with the rank of Chief of General Staff to write such letters.

Osman Şimşek, who has been ostracized by the organization in recent times, said the following while speaking on Asım Yıldırım's YouTube channel in July 2023:

“We were stabbed in the back. Someone manipulated us. For a few years, some people came and went to Hocaefendi. They called someone who betrayed the Turkish army Hulus-i Sani (one of Said Nursi's students), meaning the Second Hulusi. They said they brought letters from him. To those who said these could not be true, they would say, 'When he comes, he will bury you in the garden of the General Staff.' They called him 'father.' In a letter allegedly sent a year and a half ago, it was written, 'We will kill the tyrant by rolling him down the stairs of the Külliye.'”

THE NAME WHO SETTLED IN PENNSYLVANIA AND THE CIVILIANS AT AKINCI

Ahmet Dönmez, one of the fugitive organization members who has been researching July 15 for some time, pointed to those responsible for the coup within the organization in his article titled, “Hocaefendi was defeated by Fethullah Gülen, we were all considered defeated.”

When Ebuseleme Gülen's outburst was added to what Osman Şimşek and Ahmet Dönmez said, the coup reckoning within the organization began anew. Ebuseleme Gülen confirmed what Osman Şimşek told about July 15, stating that he knew Adil Öksüz.

The names that stood out from what both of them said were Mehmet Değerli and the civilians at the Akıncı Air Base.

I have in my hand the book “Erken Kırılan Yumurta-Ağacın Kurdu” (The Early Broken Egg-The Worm of the Tree) written by Mustafa Önsel, brought to readers by Kırmızı Kedi Publishing.

Mustafa Önsel recounts the July 15 coup attempt and the debate within the organization that started years later from Ahmet Dönmez's article as follows:

“Now I will talk about Mehmet Değerli, who played a critical role leading up to July 15. First, I will talk about Milsoft, a very important company connected to the secret structure of the community. The company initially belonged to a Turkish citizen of Jewish descent, Yalçın Çevikel. Çevikel also had companies that received tenders from and carried out projects for the Ministry of National Defense. However, he was heavily in debt to the market. He knocked on the door of Bank Asya and received a 21 million loan. Then very interesting things happened. The Bank Asya management reached out to Minister of National Defense İsmet Yılmaz and asked him to cancel the company's projects and not to award it any tenders. Why would a bank want to bankrupt a firm it is a creditor to? Çevikel's business went from bad to worse and he could not pay the loan. While looking for a way out, he met Mehmet Değerli. He asked him for help. Değerli's father was Cahit Değerli, one of the founders of Bank Asya. Değerli took the matter directly to Gülen. Then everyone from Mustafa Özcan to Cevdet Türkyolu, who handles everything at Gülen's farm in Pennsylvania, to Adil Öksüz got involved. In the end, Mehmet Sungur, one of the community's business people, took over the shares in exchange for Çevikel's debt to the bank. Sungur was also the partner of Kemal Batmaz, who appeared at the Akıncı Base on July 15. He also hired Harun Biniş, one of the imams at Akıncı, as a consultant to the company. Adil Öksüz's wife also worked in Sungur's companies.

Kemal Batmaz explained his trip to the US with Öksüz on July 11, 2016, and their return together two days later, as a complete 'coincidence' in the court where he was tried after July 15. He stated that he went to the US to meet with his partner Mehmet Sungur, but returned without waiting because he could not reach him. He also said he had previously gone and met on March 1, 2016. I asked Sungur; he stated that he had 'not met with Batmaz for 2 years.' When Batmaz was caught on the morning of July 16, he claimed that he and Harun Biniş had gone to look at land around the base.

Let's continue with Milsoft where we left off. Mehmet Değerli said, 'Adil Öksüz has been involved in the Milsoft incident from the beginning.' (...) Let's close the Milsoft incident and continue with what happened at Gülen's farm leading up to July 15. On January 7, 2015, Mehmet Değerli had settled into the camp where Gülen stayed. Gülen had known him since his childhood. He was saying, 'I have very important information.' He was saying that he met regularly with Hulusi Akar, who was the Commander of the Land Forces at that time. One of his references was Adil Öksüz. For the reference, Öksüz had also called Cevdet Türkyolu, who was everything to Gülen. He had known him since 1986. Although Değerli was known by Gülen, a high-level reference was important. From that day on, Değerli would share information with Gülen instantly.”

THE GENERAL'S UNIFORM SENT TO PENNSYLVANIA

Ahmet Dönmez continued his words by claiming that Mehmet Değerli sent a general's uniform to Pennsylvania before July 15, which he claimed belonged to Akar:

“At that time, it was being discussed that there would be mass expulsions from the TSK (Turkish Armed Forces), and that this number would reach three thousand. Gülen valued the cadres in the TSK the most. These latest developments and rumors were worrying him greatly. Information flow was no longer as rich as it used to be. Under these conditions, Değerli had started to carry information to him. The first message Değerli brought from Akar was, 'Their intentions are bad. Their eyes are on your assets. Sell them all.' Was it true? It is unknown. But Gülen had been convinced that the person he was dealing with was Akar. Because he wanted it to be so. Değerli and the powerful names of the secret structure were even calling Akar 'Kahtani.' They were saying that he was the Hulus-i Sani mentioned in the Risale-i Nur. His code name within the community was Halis. (...) Değerli once brought a general's uniform. He said that Akar sent this as a 'token of his loyalty' to Gülen. Its accuracy is doubtful! However, there was a Gülen who wanted to believe all of this. Of course, the fact that some of the critical information Değerli brought turned out to be true also played a role in this. Meanwhile, the issue of whether Akar was part of this plan is controversial. Among the claims is that Gülen was made to meet with Akar.

In one of the messages Değerli claimed came from Akar, it was alleged that Akar wrote, 'Teacher, do not worry, even if there are purges from other institutions, as long as I am here, I will not allow any harm to come to you in the TSK.' The clamor that there would be a coup within the community had started back in 2015. Gülen was verifying the information he received from Değerli by asking names like Mustafa Özcan and Adil Öksüz, and when they said, 'The information we have is also in this direction,' his doubts would decrease. A coup date was constantly being given. This increased Gülen's expectation. After 17/25 (December 2013), Adil Öksüz wanted Kemal Batmaz (code name Sedat), who was under his control, to become the Air Force imam in his place and had Gülen accept this. At that time, the Land Forces imam was Ahmet Şaban Keskin (code name Ümit), who did not belong to the hawk wing like them. In November 2015, Değerli presented a letter to Gülen that he claimed came from Akar. In the letter, Akar supposedly stated that 'he would carry out a coup but had to trust the community, and for this, there were names within the community that needed to be purged,' and gave 151 names for 19 people.”

After finishing Mustafa Önsel's book, I looked at the internal organization reckoning debates that came eight years later. I sighed, saying, “From where to where.”

How Turkey was handed over to FETÖ step by step, how the TSK was purged, and the night of July 15 passed before my eyes.

Retired Colonel Mustafa Önsel's book “Erken Kırılan Yumurta,” brought to readers by Kırmızı Kedi Publishing, gives a resounding answer to the question, “From where to where?”