Ankara court remands in custody Foreign Ministry staff

By Zafer Fatih Beyaz and Baris Kilic

ANKARA

A court remanded in custody seven Foreign Ministry personnel in capital Ankara Friday for suspected links with the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) -- the group behind last year's defeated coup.

Earlier, Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office had issued warrants for 30 ministry personnel, out of whom 15 were presented before a court.

The court then decided to remand seven of them in custody and ordered the release of the rest under judicial control.

The suspects were earlier dismissed from duty for using ByLock, a smartphone app used by FETO members before and during the defeated coup attempt of July 2016.

ByLock is believed to have been cracked by Turkish security agencies, allowing them to identify tens of thousands of suspected FETO supporters.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the attempted coup, which left 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

FETO is also accused of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.