Turkey: 15 FETO-linked suspects arrested

By Hayati Akcay, Emrah Yasar and Volkan Kasik

ORDU/ESKISEHIR/MALATYA, Turkey (AA) - Turkish security forces on Thursday arrested 15 people over their alleged links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup, security sources said on Thursday.

As a result of the investigation by Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in the northern Ordu province, police teams conducted simultaneous operations in nine provinces to catch 15 terror group suspects linked to the FETO and arrested 13 of them.

In coordination with the prosecutor’s office, anti-smuggling and organized crime units of police detected a suspect, identified only by the initials M.K. and was so-called senior member in charge for students, had been using “organizational telephone line.”

The suspects were released on bail.

Separately, In the central Anatolian province of Eskisehir, gendarmerie forces arrested a fugitive FETO suspect, who was sentenced to over five years in jail.

The suspect, identified by the initials K.C., was working in a market in Sirintepe neighborhood of the Eskisehir province and was found to have been using terror group’s encrypted smartphone messaging app ByLock.

Moreover, gendarmerie forces in Turkey’s eastern Malatya arrested another FETO suspect.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of 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 Burak Dag in Ankara​​​​​​​