EDIRNE, Turkey

At least four suspects were nabbed in Turkey's northwestern Edirne province on Wednesday over alleged links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup.

The provincial anti-terror police teams held the former soldiers in an operation while they were trying to flee to Greece illegally, according to security sources.

The suspects, identified by the initials M.G., B.K., K.K., and A.U., were referred to a court, and then arrested after the ruling.

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

Ankara also 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.