Omer Yildiz, Mirac Kaya and Gulsem Adam
January 21, 2020•Update: January 21, 2020
ADANA/BALIKESIR/ANTALYA, Turkey
Turkish security forces on Tuesday arrested 59 suspects over ties to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the defeated 2016 coup.
Prosecutors in the southern provinces of Adana and Antalya, western province of Balikesir and the capital Ankara issued warrants for 68 people, including some serving officials.
Adana-based anti-terror operations were launched simultaneously in five provinces, and 22 suspects were arrested.
Additionally, in Balikesir-based operations, carried out in eight provinces -- including Istanbul and Ankara -- 10 suspects were arrested.
Also, 20 suspects were arrested in an anti-terror operation in Antalya where 10 of the detained suspects were released after their statements.
Meanwhile, Ankara-based anti-terror operations were launched simultaneously against alleged FETO members who had infiltrated National Education Ministry branches in seven provinces -- Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Kirsehir, Kayseri, Aksaray and Kahramanmaras -- resulting in the arrest of seven of 16 suspects
The arrested suspects were active ministry staff and all were using ByLock -- an encrypted smartphone application used by FETO members for communication.
The arrest warrants were issued after suspects were found to have communicated with members of the terror group.
FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 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.
* Writing by Fahri Aksut and Davut Demircan
