ANKARA

Turkish prosecutors on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for a total of 81 suspects affiliated with the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the defeated coup of 2016, and 65 of them have been rounded up across the country, security officials confirmed.

According to a statement by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office in the capital Ankara, 66 of the suspects operated within the judiciary, and used an operational phone line for communication within the terror group.

While 50 of them were arrested, the operations to arrest the remaining suspects are underway.

Separately, search operations were launched in Turkish provinces, including Istanbul, to nab 15 suspects who joined FETO cells to prepare for judiciary exams in 2013-2014 in a bid to become judges or prosecutors.

All 15 of the suspects were arrested amid simultaneous operations, which were held after obtaining information through the confessions of suspects arrested earlier.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, in Turkey, in which 251 people were killed and 2,734 injured.

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

*Writing by Ali Murat Alhas