Turkey: Arrests deal blow to FETO funding

ISTANBUL/NIGDE, Turkey

Turkish police arrested dozens of suspects over their alleged financial support to the Fetullah Terror Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, officials said on Thursday.

As part of an investigation launched by prosecutors in Istanbul, police conducted simultaneous operations in Istanbul, the capital Ankara, and the southeastern province of Sanliurfa.

In the operations, 28 out of 38 wanted suspects were held, and a large volume of organizational documents and digital materials were seized.

Police are on the lookout for the remaining 10 suspects.

According to the officials, the suspects allegedly collected around 52 million Turkish liras ($6.8 million) to finance the terror group’s operations in the West African country, Gabon, through associations, foundations, and institutions affiliated with FETO.

In a separate but related development, seven of the 25 FETO suspects arrested on Wednesday in the central province of Nigde were produced before a court.

All the suspects were held as part of efforts to eliminate the terror group’s infiltration into the Turkish police force.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the July 15 coup attempt, in which 251 people were martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Turkey 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.

*Writing by Ahmet Gencturk in Ankara