UPDATE - Turkey: 73 FETO terror suspects arrested

UPDATES WITH MORE ARRESTS, CHANGES HEADLINE, LEDE, DECK

By Cankut Tasdan, Haydar Toprakci, Muzahim Zahid Tuzun, Sener Toktas and Hakan Mehmet Sahin

ANKARA/IZMIR/KAYSERI/BITLIS/EDIRNE, Turkey (AA) - At least 73 people were arrested on Tuesday over their suspected links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, according to security sources.

Police in the capital Ankara arrested 13 FETO suspects after prosecutors issued warrants for 16 suspects in the city on charges of cheating in a police exam in 2012.

Efforts are ongoing to arrest the remaining suspects.

Separately, prosecutors in the western Izmir province sought the arrest of 15 suspects as part of a probe launched into suspects for using the terror group's encrypted messaging app, ByLock.

A total of 10 suspects were arrested in the ongoing operation in Izmir.

Meanwhile, 15 suspects were arrested in the central province of Kayseri after prosecutors issued warrants for 20 suspects, including on-duty and dismissed soldiers, as part of a probe launched into the terror group’s infiltration into the military.

A total of 32 FETO suspects were arrested across Turkey as part of an investigation launched by the prosecutors in the eastern Turkish province of Bitlis.

In Turkey’s northwestern province of Edirne, Turkish security forces arrested three FETO suspects while they were trying to illegally cross the border with Greece.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people martyred and 2,734 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.