Turkish court hands jail terms to over 130 FETO members

By Cemil Murat Budak and Tanju Ozkaya

ANKARA (AA) - A Turkish court handed down jail terms to 131 members of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) following their trial, a judicial source said Wednesday.

A court in the capital Ankara sentenced former police intelligence chief Ramazan Akyurek to 45 years in prison, while his ex-deputy Gursel Aktepe received 27 years.

Former Ankara deputy police chiefs Lokman Kircili and Hami Guney were sentenced to 22 and 28 years in prison, respectively.

Also, police chiefs Yurt Atayun and Ali Fuat Yilmazer were sentenced to seven years in prison. Both had previously been handed jail terms in a separate court in Istanbul.

The convicts were found guilty for being members of a terror group, military and political spying, illegal wiretapping, forgery of official documents, aggravated fraud and illegal disposal of confidential documents.

Hasan Ali Okan, Ilyas Tekin, Ozgur Ozturk, Seyit Golcuk, Fatih Dogan, and Ertan Aslan were sentenced to 16 years each in prison. They were found guilty of being members of a terror group and military and political spying.

Another 126 convicts were found guilty of being members of a terror group, illegal wiretapping and forgery of official documents.

Four others were convicted of illegal wiretapping, forgery of official documents, aggravated fraud and illegal disposal of confidential documents.

The court separated the court files of 43 other defendants, while acquitting 37 others.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen is accused of orchestrating the defeated coup 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.

* Writing by Erdogan Cagatay Zontur in Ankara