28 FETO convicts get jail terms in Turkey

By Ekber Turkoglu

TOKAT, Turkey (AA) – At least 28 people across Turkey were convicted on Wednesday of being members of Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the July 2016 defeated coup.

In Black Sea province Samsun, 13 convicts were handed jail terms ranging from six months to 10-and-a-half years.

They were sentenced for attempting to abolish the constitutional order, forming or leading an armed terrorist organization, financing terrorism, and being members of an armed terror group.

In another Black Sea province Tokat, nine FETO convicts were sentenced to six years and three months in prison, as part of an investigation into FETO’s structuring in Turkish police.

They included former departmental chiefs.

Separately, the Ordu Second High Penal Court sentenced six former police chiefs to six years and three months in prison over charges of membership in an armed terror group.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 250 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.