65 FETO suspects arrested across Turkey

By Mustafa Unal Uysal, Seyhan Kirici, Ersoy Sevinc, Ekber Turkoglu, Ali Balli and Neset Karadag

ANKARA (AA) - Sixty-five people were arrested across Turkey on Tuesday over alleged links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

Arrest warrants were issued for 40 suspects in the southwestern province of Isparta, and 31 of them, including six former government employees, were arrested for allegedly using ByLock.

The ByLock smartphone app was allegedly used by FETO members for internal communication during Turkey’s defeated coup attempt of July 15, 2016, which martyred 250 people and injured over 2,000 others.

Twenty-one out of 31 suspects were also arrested in the northwestern province of Balikesir for alleged ByLock use. Four others arrested in southern province of Kahramanmaras.

The Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in the northern province of Tokat issued arrest warrants for five soldiers, one of whom was suspended earlier.

In the Aegean resort of Bodrum, nine former teachers who worked in FETO-linked schools have been arrested for active use of Bank Asya accounts.

Bank Asya is a participation bank affiliated with U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen, who leads the FETO group. Bank Asya's banking license was cancelled on July 22, 2016 -- seven days after the failed coup bid -- by Turkey’s Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency.

A court in Adana, southern Turkey, remanded one FETO suspect in custody, while releasing 10 others on judicial control.

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.