Turkey deciphers FETO terrorists' Money Heist-inspired use of codenames

By Tanju Ozkaya

ANKARA (AA) - To hide their identities, members of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, used names of countries or cities to communicate, as did characters in the popular TV series Money Heist, Anadolu Agency has learned.

Fifty-four people in a group conversation in ByLock, the encrypted messaging app of the terrorist organization, preferred the names of countries, capitals, or cities as their nicknames, it was revealed in an investigation, according to sources.

After examining the profiles, conversations and the content of messages, experts managed to decipher the identities of each user, and it was found that some of them held positions in the Foreign Ministry such as undersecretary, attache, clerk and chief clerk.

As many as 53 former high-level ministry officials affiliated with the organization hence faced legal action.

The eight robbers in Money Heist, or La Casa de Papel, the original name of the Spanish heist crime drama television series, are code-named for cities: Tokyo, Moscow, Berlin, Nairobi, Rio, Denver, Helsinki, and Oslo.

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 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 Dilan Pamuk in Ankara