YOZGAT, Turkey

Police in Turkey arrested nine people over their suspected links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in the country, a security source said on Monday.

This came after the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in the central Yozgat province issued arrest warrants for the suspects, including active-duty personnel, as part of a probe into the terror group’s infiltration of the military.

In simultaneous operations carried out in the capital Ankara, Istanbul, Tunceli, Kahramanmaras and Elazig provinces, the suspects – including three active-duty soldiers, a retired soldier, a doctor, a teacher and former military students – were arrested, said the source on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people dead 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 Dilan Pamuk in Ankara​​​​​​​