64 FETO-linked terror suspects arrested across Turkey

By Fahrettin Gok and Gokhan Yilmaz

ESKISEHIR / TOKAT / ZONGULDAK / ERZURUM, Ankara (AA) - At least 64 suspects, including active soldiers have been arrested across Turkey for their alleged links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup, according to a judicial source on Tuesday.

In central Eskisehir province, 13 suspects, including a so-called provincial imam were rounded up by police, the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, said.

In northern Tokat province, security personnel captured 10 suspected FETO members, including active soldiers, who were said to be in touch with “covert imams” of the FETO in the recent past, according to the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Tokat.

The office had demanded the arrest of 13 suspects. Police are looking for the remaining three suspects.

In the Zonguldak-based operation, 10 other FETO suspects were arrested by police in an operation.

Separately, in a Kastamonu-based operation, police arrested 12 suspects.

In northwestern Balikesir province, six suspects were rounded up for using ByLock, an encrypted smartphone messaging app used by FETO members before and during the defeated coup.

Also, 13 suspects, including a lieutenant and a cadet who had been expelled from a military school were arrested for their links to FETO as part of an eastern Erzurum-centered FETO investigation, according to a statement by the provincial governor's office in Erzurum.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 250 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.