Over 90 FETO suspects arrested across Turkey

By Sibel Ugurlu

ANKARA (AA) – A total of 95 people, including active-duty soldiers, have been arrested over suspected links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup attempt, police sources said on Tuesday.

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.

In the western Manisa province, police rounded up 13 suspects including active-duty soldiers in simultaneous operations conducted across 12 provinces including the capital Ankara, Izmir, and Mugla, said a police source on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

In the eastern Mus province, police arrested 23 active-duty soldiers of various ranks as part of a probe of FETO’s military infiltration.

Also, in the northern Bartin province, nine more soldiers were arrested.

Operations in six provinces centered on the southeastern Mardin province resulted in the arrest of eight former police officers.

In Ankara, a former eastern Erzurum province police chief was arrested. He had been sacked from duty in 2015 for his ties to FETO.

In the northern Tokat province, two ex-teachers who had been working in a private school shut down as part of anti-FETO operations were also arrested.

In the southeastern Sirnak province, police arrested 28 suspects for embezzling and forgery of official documents in a FETO-related probe.

In the Aegean Izmir province, gendarmerie forces rounded up 16 FETO suspects, including dismissed and active duty soldiers, in simultaneous morning raids as part of an ongoing investigation into the terrorist group.