15 FETO terror suspects arrested across Turkey

By Zafer Fatih Beyaz

ANKARA (AA) - At least 15 people were arrested for their alleged links to Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the terror group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, security officials said on Thursday.

In capital Ankara-based operation, five of the suspects were arrested in simultaneous raids in seven different provinces, a security official said on the condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.

Previously, the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Ankara had issued arrest warrants for 17 former teachers for their suspected links to FETO.

The suspects were learned to have worked for FETO-linked schools before shut down by a statutory decree, a statement by the prosecutor’s office said.

According to the statement, some of the suspects were accused of depositing money at the FETO-affiliated Bank Asya, whose banking license was cancelled on July 22, 2016 -- seven days after the defeated coup -- by Turkey’s Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency.

Some of them were also accused of using the terror group’s encrypted messaging program ByLock.

In another operation based in Aegean province of Balikesir, police arrested 10 soldiers, who were previously found to have been phoned by the “covert imams” of the FETO by payphone, another security official said.

On Wednesday, the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Balikesir had issued arrest warrants for 22 soldiers, who work for the country’s coast guard, naval and land forces, as part of an investigation carried out in coordination with the provincial security directorate.

Out of the total, eight FETO suspects were arrested on Wednesday during simultaneous operations conducted in 13 provinces, as well as in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

All the suspects were on-duty soldiers except one.

Separately in Black Sea province of Tokat, the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued arrest warrants for 13 FETO suspects, most of them are on-duty soldiers, as part of an investigation into the “secret military structuring” of the terror group.

Also, the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in southeastern Batman province issued arrest warrants for 57 on-duty soldiers as part of an investigation into the “secret military structuring” of FETO.

The Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup on 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.