A recent article in The Times reveals that Sir Edward Garnier, the Conservative MP for Harborough, was paid over £100,000 by the Gülen-affiliated Journalists and Writers Foundation to co-author a report criticizing Ankara for actions against Gülenist organizations:

The research was commissioned by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF), an Istanbul-based group set up in 1994 after a meeting between Fethullah Gulen, an Islamist cleric who lives in self-imposed exile in the US, and a group of journalists. Mr Gulen remains its honorary president.

“The JWF is the primary public face of the Gulen movement,” said Joshua Hendrick, of Loyola University Maryland and author of a book on Mr Gulen. “They have a very strategic and long history, in Turkey and the world, of peddling favour from influential people, including elected officials, journalists and other leaders.”

Sir Edward’s report, which focused almost exclusively on actions by the Turkish government against Gulen-linked organisations, was released in late September and promoted by the London-based public relations company Hawthorn, which offers “reputation management”. Copies were sent to Philip Hammond, who was foreign secretary at the time, and David Cameron.

In March Sir Edward joined in a Commons debate on the EU-Turkey migrant deal, raising “the serial and appalling human rights and rule of law abuses by the Turkish government” and urging a reversal of the UK’s support for Turkey’s accession to the EU. “While these abuses continue, there should be no question of opening any chapters at all, even though we need Turkey as a member of Nato and its agreement to help with the migration problem,” Sir Edward concluded.

Although he mentioned his contribution to the report in his Commons statement, he did not reveal that it had been commissioned by a group linked to the Gulen movement, which by that time had been listed as a banned terrorist organisation in Turkey.

Full article available here.