recep güven, ahmet pek, yakup saygılı, ramazan akyürek, coşkun çakar and emrullah (emre) uslu... turkey has been familiar with these names since 2014. they have been first detained and then arrested by court decision as part of the parallel state structure probe. they are the ones along with many others who paved the way to turkey's  july 15th coup attempt.  

a list of 132 names from 1999

it is not yet clear whether all of the 132 people on the list are members or connected to the gülen organization. however, many seem to be tied to the gülenists given their actions and operations in later years. detention and arrest warrants issued as part of the parallel state probe are the most significant indicators of that connection.

but did the state find out about their connection with the gülen organization in 2013? we need to look back to 1999 to find the answer to this question.

the then-chief of the ankara police department cevdet saral and his deputy osman ak launched a probe into the law enforcement organization to reveal the gülenists within.

the investigation, which took nearly three months and was undersigned by police chief inspectors zafer aktaş and ersal dalman, uncovered the names of 132 police officers who were members of the "light sect".

years later turkey was going to see these police officers, who were at lower ranks back then, at top decision-making positions. 

intelligence's number one: ramazan akyürek

the most striking name on the 'gülenist police officers' list, prepared by the ankara police department in 1999, was probably ramazan akyürek. he was in the 10th place of the list and was working in adana at the time.

as no action was taken against the ones on the list, ramazan akyürek remained untouched too. he continued climbing up the career ladder in ensuing years. he served as the chief of trabzon police department between 2004-2006. in 2006, he was appointed as the director of police intelligence. he was discharged from office in 2009 and served as the head of the inspection board of the turkish national police. he was suspended from duty in 2014 as part of the parallel state probe ans is currently a suspect of the 'illegal wire-tapping' case. he is also on trial regarding the hrant dink murder case.

a key actor of the december 17-25 probe: yakup saygılı

another well-known name from the 1999 list was yakup saygılı, who was an ordinary deputy police inspector at the directorate of organized crime in ankara when his name entered the list, became the director of the financial crimes division of the istanbul police department 14 years later, in 2013. he was one of the key actors of the december 17-25 probe. 

number 73 on the 1999 list, saygılı is currently imprisoned on charges of "attempting to overthrow the government" as part of the parallel state probe.

fugitive police chief recep güven

recep güven was a police superintendent at the directorate of police intelligence in 1999. he was number 16 on the gülenist police officers list, which was prepared by cevdet saral's team.

13 years later, in 2012 he became the chief of the diyarbakır police department and remained in that position until january 2014 although the fact that he was connected to the gülenists was available in state records.

güven is a suspect of the 'illegal wire-tapping' case as part of the parallel state probe. he was arrested at one time, but then he was released. later another arrest warrant was issued against him.

once a police chief, who headed the diyarbakır police department for two years, güven is now a fugitive.

number two of police intelligence

coşkun çakar was among the suspects of the 'illegal wire-tapping' case as part of the parallel state probe. he was a police superintendent when the 1999 list entered state records. however, he became the deputy director of police intelligence eight years later and served in that position between 2007-2008. in 2015, he was arrested on charges of illegal wire-tapping as part of the parallel state probe.

police chief of the time became a governor

one of the top names in the list, prepared by the ankara police department in 1999, was ahmet pek. he was the number two on the list of gülenist police officers and next to his name it said 'police chief'.

just like others, no action was taken against him.

pek has become the deputy director of turkish national police by 2012. he was appointed as the governor of iğdır the same year by the then-minister of interior idris naim şahin.

in 2014 he was recalled to the central office.

governor pek was arrested in february 2016 as part of the salam tawhid probe. it was determined that he was the head of the ankara leg of an investigation under which president recep tayyip erdoğan, among others, was wire-tapped. in other words, he let gülenists investigate a conspiracy which they set up themselves.

a fugitive on the list: emrullah uslu

one of the persons on the 1999 list was emrullah uslu, who later gained reputation as a journalist and writer by the name of emre uslu. uslu was a police officer back in 1999. years later he became a columnist for the taraf daily, which is widely known for their coverage of the ergenekon and sledgehammer trials and was recently closed based on a state of emergency decision. uslu, who is currently abroad as a fugitive, is a suspect of the cases regarding the stop-and-search of turkish intelligence trucks and the salam tawhid plot.

deputy director of turkish national police feridun taşçı

another name on the 1999 list was feridun taşçı, who later became the deputy director of the turkish national police.

taşçı was arrested in 2016 as part of the parallel state structure probe carried out in izmir.

an important name: ali osman kahya

number 6 on the list, that was prepared in 1999, was ali osman kahya who later worked as a police chief in bursa and malatya.

kahya was detained after the july 15th coup attempt.

he was the chief of the malatya police department when the zirve publishing house attack happened on april 18, 2007.

key suspect of the salam tawhid probe: özgür açıkgöz

another deputy police inspector on the 1999 list was özgür açıkgöz, who promoted to the rank of deputy director of the istanbul anti-terrorism department in 2011. he was arrested on allegations of conspiracy as part of the salam tawhid probe. he was accused of illegal wire-tapping of politicians, academicians and bureaucrat although they had no connections with terrorist organizations.

suspect of the tahşiye probe was also on the list

bayram özbek, a suspect of the tahşiye probe, was also on the list. özbek was a deputy police inspector in 1999, but later he rose as high as the rank of police chief. years later he was detained as part of the part of the parallel state probe.

mehmet fecri yıldız

among the police inspectors, who were named in the list as members of the "light sect", was mehmet fecri yıldız. yıldız rose as high as the rank of 3rd degree police chief and also worked at the department of intelligence.

also on the list was police chief ayhan falakalı, who was working at the department of intelligence when the list was prepared and continued to work there for many more years. a detention warrant was issued against falakalı along with other intelligence department officials in 2015 as part of the illegal wire-tapping probe.

deputy chief of the ankara police department muharrem durmaz was also on the "gülenist police officers" list. he was arrested in 2015 as part of the parallel state probe.

fugitive head of the anti-terrorism department was also on the list

head of the anti-terrorism department of turkish national police cihangir çelik was on the list as well. çelik, who was a police superintendent in 1999, was dismissed from this position in 2014. later a detention warrant was issued against him as part of the salam tawhid conspiracy probe. çelik remains a fugitive.

years later they have become police chiefs in big cities

hüsrev salmaner, who was a police superintendent in yalova in 1999, was also on the list of gülenist police officers. he rose as high as the rank of police chief in later years. in 2011 he was appointed as the chief of the artvin police department, but was dismissed in 2014.

another similar case was that of mustafa sağlam, who was dismissed as the chief of the antalya police department in 2014 as part of the parallel state investigation.

ahmet zeki gürkan, who worked as a police chief in isparta ve adana, was also on the list. his name entered the list when he was serving as a police superintendent. he was first dismissed as part of the parallel state probe and was retired off in 2015.

metin aşık, who, like gürkan, entered the list when he was a police superintendent, was retired off later in 2015 as part of the parallel state probe.

hanefi avcı was also on the list

one well-known person on the list was hanefi avcı, whose name was on the fourth place. avcı was a police chief back then. in his book titled "haliç'te yaşayan simonlar" (the simons of the golden horn), which he wrote in 2010, he said "that he stayed in one of the "houses of light" for 5-6 month; that he met fethullah gülen in one of those houses while he was staying there; and that his children studied at the private samanyolu school for 6 years". on page 421 of his book, avcı mentions the 1999 report. "when some officials in ankara including cevdet saral and osman ak started preparing a report about the gülenist organization within the police, the then-director of police intelligence sabri uzun noticed that the report was not about revealing the truth, but rather about enabling the team in ankara to go to istanbul as irrelevant names were also included in the list of gülenists, and objected to this. he uncloaked the hidden agenda of the team in ankara and because of that he was even accused of protecting the gülenists," he wrote. after 2005, when there was a split-up among the gülenist cadres within the police, avcı waged a battle against a group led by osman hilmi özdil, who was also known as "kozanlı ömer" (ömer of kozan). he was then tried and imprisoned for 4 years on fake charges.

some of the names on the list remained in active duty until the coup attempt

one of the names on the 1999 list, yıldıray persil was a deputy police inspector back then. he continued active duty as part of the zonguldak police department until the july 15th coup attempt, after which he was suspended from duty on the grounds that he was connected to the parallel state structure.

another name from the list, who was detained after the coup attempt for having acted in concert with the coup plotters, was yaşar şimşek, a 4th degree police chief. it said on the list that şimşek, who was a deputy inspector at that time, was a member of the "light sect".

department chief of the kütahya police department azimet doğan, who was arrested after the coup attempt, was also on the 1999 list. doğan was a deputy inspector at the time the list was prepared.

abdurrahim türkmen, another name from the list, promoted to the rank of police chief in 2016. türkmen was detained after the coup attempt.

selahattin günday, al jazeera