Turkey: Warrants out for 36 FETO terror suspects

By Safak Yel

IZMIR, Turkey (AA) - Turkish prosecutors issued arrest warrants Tuesday for 36 people, including active-duty soldiers, for their suspected links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup, judicial sources said.

Prosecutors in the Aegean province of Izmir issued the warrants for suspects in 18 different provinces as part of an investigation into FETO's infiltration of the military, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

The suspects were allegedly found to have communicated with “covert imams” -- senior FETO members -- using pay phones.

Some 22 suspects were active-duty officers in the Turkish Armed Forces.

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.

Turkey 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.

*Writing by Faruk Zorlu