Erdogan: FETO members became unthinking slaves

FETO supporters -- including academics, judicial officials, police officers, soldiers, teachers and business figures -- had "followed a charlatan’s false claims”, he told the audience at a Turkish Academy of Sciences awards ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Ankara.

"Like many heretical structures, FETO members have lost their way,” Erdogan said. "Forgetting what they are and who they are, they have become ‘mankurt’ who do exactly what their owner orders.”

A mankurt is a Turkic word to describe someone whose mind is enslaved by another.

FETO, led by U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen, is held to be responsible for the July coup attempt in Turkey. Gulen spent decades establishing a network of schools and exam-cramming colleges in Turkey, whose students would go on to find careers in the state.

According to the government, these supporters in the armed forces, police, judiciary, business and elsewhere have been used in an attempt to subvert the legitimate administration, with the coup attempt being the latest and most obvious example.

FETO has also established a network of education institutions and businesses overseas.

The ceremony heard Erdogan congratulate 35 academics and scientists for their contribution to Turkey’s development.

"We really have progressed in this process to build a new and great Turkey from the way that science has enlightened us,” he said.