92 FETO suspects nabbed in operations across Turkey

ISTANBUL/IZMIR/KIRKLARELI/ANKARA/KONYA/SIRNAK

At least 92 people with suspected links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, were arrested in nationwide operations, authorities said on Tuesday.

Istanbul police teams launched simultaneous operations in five provinces and 25 suspects were arrested after prosecutors issued warrants for 36 people, said the sources, requesting anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

The suspects are accused of providing financial support to FETO and some were found to be using the terror group’s encrypted messaging app ByLock.

Investigators ascertained that three suspects fled Turkey, while efforts are on to track down the remaining eight, the sources said.

In an operation in the western Izmir province, security forces nabbed 35 FETO suspects, including a wanted former police chief, dismissed judges, and soldiers.

The suspects frequently changed their locations to avoid being caught and rented houses through people with no record of links to FETO, the sources said.

Fake identity documents, cash, and digital materials were seized in the raids.

In a separate operation, a wanted non-commissioned officer, identified only by the initials I.P., was apprehended in the northwestern Kirklareli province.

Security teams arrested 10 more suspects in raids in 13 provinces, according to judicial sources.

The operations were carried out after prosecutors in the capital Ankara issued arrest warrants for 19 people over suspected links to FETO.

Efforts are continuing to nab the remaining individuals, the sources added.

In a Konya-based operation conducted in five provinces, 13 more FETO suspects were arrested. Three of them were also founded to have used ByLock.

Another operation conducted in the southeastern Sirnak province saw the arrest of eight FETO suspects.

The suspects were soldiers on active duty who allegedly contacted senior FETO members known as “covert imams” via pay phones, the provincial governorate said.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, in which 251 people were martyred and nearly 2,200 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 Seda Sevencan and Dilan Pamuk in Ankara