Turkey: Arrest warrants out for 71 FETO-linked suspects

By Muhammed Enes Can

ISTANBUL (AA) - Arrest warrants were issued Wednesday for 71 suspects including 61 soldiers and 10 alleged "covert imams" of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), according to the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul .

As part of a case on a FETO infiltration in theTurkish Armed Forces, the Istanbul Prosecutor's Office issued the arrest warrants against 61 soldiers, 36 of whom are still on duty.

A total of 39 suspects including 33 soldiers have so far been arrested in simultaneous operations conducted by security units across 23 provinces of Turkey.

The arrest warrants target 23 suspects from the Ground Forces Command, 24 from the Naval Forces, 11 from the Air Command Forces and three from the gendarmerie forces.

According to the Turkish government, 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.