UPDATES WITH MORE ARRESTS; REVISED HEADLINE, DECK
By Oguzhan Demiray and Mirac Kaya
AKSARAY, BALIKESIR, Turkey (AA) – Police in Turkey nabbed 30 more people for suspected links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in the country, security sources said on Monday.
Twelve suspects were apprehended in the capital Ankara, central Aksaray and Konya provinces after prosecutors in Aksaray issued arrest warrants for 15 suspects as part of an investigation into the terror group’s training structure.
Separately, prosecutors in Turkey’s western province of Balikesir issued warrants for 23 suspects, including 14 active-duty soldiers and nine former military students, accused of being a member of the terrorist organization, according to a statement by provincial governorate.
Some 18 of the suspects were arrested in simultaneous operations carried out in 18 provinces.
Efforts to catch the remaining suspects are ongoing.
FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, in which 251 people were killed 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.
*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz in Ankara and Handan Kazanci in Istanbul