UPDATE - Turkey issues arrest warrants for 70 FETO suspects

UPDATES WITH POLICE MAKE ARRESTS

By Tanju Ozkaya and Zafer Fatih Beyaz

ANKARA (AA) - Police arrested 28 former teachers Friday for suspected links with the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup, according to a security source.

The arrests came after the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Ankara issued warrants earlier in the day for 70 teachers, who were said to be former staffers of FETO-linked schools that had been closed under an emergency decree, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, said.

Some of the suspects are accused of using ByLock, an encrypted mobile phone application used by FETO members to communicate during and after the defeated coup attempt, while others are accused of having deposited money at the FETO-affiliated Bank Asya following orders from the terror group.

An Istanbul court declared Bank Asya bankrupt last November. Bank Asya's banking license was cancelled on July 22, 2016 -- seven days after the defeated coup -- by Turkey’s Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK).

The banking watchdog had ruled for complete takeover of all shares of Bank Asya by the state-run Insurance Fund in May 2015.

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.