Turkish court issues arrest warrant for FETO head Gulen

By Serdar Acil

ANKARA (AA) - An Ankara court on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant against Fetullah Gulen, the U.S. based mastermind of the July 15 coup attempt, according to a judicial source.

Although some other courts had issued arrest warrants for Gulen before, Wednesday's decision by the 17th High Criminal Court is the first such instrument issued as part of the March 8 indictment against the main suspects in the foiled coup, the source said.

The indictment against the 221 suspects outlines the "attempt to overthrow the democratic constitutional order by treasonous FETO members with 35 planes, 37 helicopters, 246 armored vehicles and around 4,000 light weapons".

Among the suspects are the members of the Peace at Home Council established by the coup plotters to replace the government.

Arrest warrants have also been issued against ten other suspects including Ali Irmak, Birol Kurubas, Mehmet Aytac, Neset Gulener, Serhat Pahsa, Serkan Coskun, Sener Dogrugoren, Tayfun Ozek, Tevfik Gok and Turgay Er, the source said, adding 175 others would continue to remain in custody pending trial.

Four suspects including Huseyin Yildirim, Kubra Yavuz, Mehmet Uslu and Ramazan Comert will continue to remain under judicial supervision, the court ruled.

The situation of the remaining 31 suspects is not known.

The hearings are scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. on weekdays between May 22 and June 16 at the closed penitentiary institution in Ankara's Sincan town.

The Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) has been accused of being behind the attempted coup, which left at least 249 people martyred and around 2,200 wounded.

The government has also accused FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.