The claim that he was "part of the coup project"
Unfounded
Claim
Fact
After the coup attempt of 15 July 2016, in the second half of July 2016, the theologian Faruk Beşer said in a social media post, without naming a name, "he is one end of the project". It was understood from the context that the person meant was Alparslan Kuytul; Kuytul too put the accusation on record in his written reply with the words "portraying me as 'one end of the putschists'".
The basis of this sentence was two distorted recordings put into circulation in those days.
The first was the recording of the night of the coup. On the evening of Friday 15 July 2016, after his exegesis lesson, Kuytul made a statement of about 4.5 minutes. The video that was shared was under a minute long and had been cut at a point that gave the impression that a prayer was being made for the coup. In the part that was cut out stood this sentence: "Much as we have criticised this government from the outset, we would not be pleased at their being toppled by a coup."
The second was the words "the government's pen has been broken". It was claimed that the words had been spoken on the eve of the coup. Yet the same metaphor had been in use since 10 February 2016; the speech put forward as the basis, however, is dated 1 July 2016 — fourteen days before the attempt. It was not advance knowledge but a political assessment drawn from the United States' stance towards Ankara.
When the full 4.5 minutes of the speech was published, a great many people who had believed the cropped video and shared it corrected their view, and some openly apologised.
What remains is neither a document, nor a name, nor any connection that can be shown. The phrase "part of the project" had been built upon two cropped recordings shared without their accuracy being investigated.
The details of the two recordings are on separate pages: the cropped video of the night of the coup and the date of the words "the pen has been broken". The text in which Kuytul explains in his own words why he is against coups: Why is he against coups? The 15 July interview.
When was the claim made?
In the three weeks following the night of 15 July 2016, more than 30,000 people were taken into custody and some 110,000 were removed from their posts. Part of the weight of the accusation came from the moment at which it was made: in the second half of July 2016, Faruk Beşer, in a post in which he named no one, presented Kuytul as "one end of the project" behind the coup attempt.
This is not an ordinary difference of opinion but an imputation that could become a matter for the prosecutor's office. Such an imputation is expected to have at least some basis. Two recordings were put forward as that basis, and both had been cropped.
The first basis: the cropped recording of the night of the coup
On Friday 15 July 2016 Kuytul was giving the exegesis lesson he gave every week in the central building of the Furkan Foundation. News of the coup came at around 22.00; after the lesson, at about 23.30 that night, he made a short statement. At that hour the TRT broadcast had been cut, it was not known where the President was, and Turkey believed the attempt was being made within the army's chain of command.
The statement as a whole was about 4.5 minutes long. The video put into circulation was under a minute. In the part that was cut out and discarded were these:
"Much as we have criticised this government from the outset, we would not be pleased at their being toppled by a coup."
"In this coup atmosphere perhaps hundreds of thousands of people will be taken into custody. Perhaps we too will be one of them."
"May God protect the innocent, may He not bring calamities down upon the heads of the innocent."
That is, a speech anxious about the consequences of the coup was turned into a text of support precisely by being cut at the very places where that anxiety was voiced. The full text of the speech and its cropped version stand side by side on the The claim that "he hoped for deliverance from the coup" page.
The second basis: a sentence whose date was shifted
It was claimed that the words "the government's pen has been broken" had been spoken one day before the coup. Yet the same metaphor had also been used on 10 February 2016, when he was asked about US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Turkey, and had been repeated in March 2016. The speech put forward as the basis, however, is dated 1 July 2016 — fourteen days before the attempt, that is, the last link in an assessment that had been going on for months.
The shifting of a date is not a small detail here; it is the thing that carries the whole force of the claim. If the words were spoken one day before the coup, that is advance knowledge; if they were spoken months earlier, it is an assessment that looks at foreign-policy indicators. Kuytul himself said what that assessment was: "Mine is an analysis; it is God who knows the unseen…" He also ended the speech as a warning: "If they listen to me it is for their own good; if they do not listen, that is their own affair." The date and the content of these words are dealt with separately on the The claim that "he knew about the coup in advance" page.
What happened when the original was published?
When the full 4.5 minutes of the speech was published, a great many people who had believed the cropped video and shared it corrected their view, and some apologised. Refuting the claim required no new document, no new witness and no court ruling; the uncut version of the recording was enough.
What is left?
To count someone as "part of a project" is a grave claim, and the evidence for a grave claim should be of the same weight: a name, a meeting, a flow of money, a document. In this claim none of these has been shown. The only thing shown was two cropped recordings shared without their accuracy being investigated.
That is why the label is "Unfounded". Sharing a piece of news without investigating whether it is true is easy for anyone; but for those who are addressed by a verse (al-Hujurat 6) commanding that news which arrives be investigated, the responsibility for an imputation made without investigation belongs to the one who makes it.
The subject of this page is the claim itself; the personal dispute between the parties is dealt with under a separate heading. For the text in which Kuytul explains in his own words why he is against coups: Why is he against coups? The 15 July interview.