Turkey: Police arrest 94 FETO suspects

By Omer Sut, Metin Girgin, Aziz Aslan, Gazi Nogay, Leyla Ataman Koyuncuoglu and Omer Ural

ANKARA (AA) - At least 94 suspects including 26 soldiers have been arrested in anti-terror operations across Turkey for alleged links to Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind last year's defeated coup, police sources said Tuesday.

According to a police source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to media, 14 suspects including two soldiers were arrested in western Izmir province on Tuesday.

The arrests came after arrest warrants were issued by the Izmir Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the source said, adding six of the suspects were accused of using FETO’s encrypted smartphone software ByLock.

In northwestern Kocaeli province, 24 soldiers suspected to be FETO members were arrested, another police source said, adding searches were ongoing to apprehend three others.

Another operation against the organisation's financial structure led to the arrest of 19 suspects after the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in southeastern Diyarbakir province issued arrest warrants for 32 suspects in 15 provinces.

The suspects are accused of being affiliated with the FETO-Linked 'Kimse Yok Mu' Relief Foundation, as well as using ByLock.

In another operation in Kocaeli, four suspects were arrested for using ByLock after arrest warrants were issued by the Kocaeli Chief Public Prosecutor's Office for five suspects in Kocaeli and Istanbul.

In central Corum province, six other FETO suspects were arrested while 20 others were apprehended in simultaneous operations in six provinces after the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in southern Antalya province issued arrest warrants for 24 suspects for using ByLock.

Additionally, seven suspects were arrested during another operation in Suleymanpasa district of northwestern Tekirdag province.

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 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.