64 FETÖ suspects detained across Turkey
ANKARA - Anadolu Agency
At least 64 suspects, including active soldiers, were detained across Turkey for their alleged links to the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), according to a judicial source on July 3.
In the central Eskişehir province, 13 suspects including a so-called provincial imam were rounded up by police, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.
In the northern Tokat province, security personnel captured 10 suspected FETÖ members, including active soldiers, who were said to be in touch with “covert imams” of the FETÖ in the recent past, according to the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Tokat.
The office had demanded the arrest of 13 suspects.
In the Zonguldak-based operation, 10 other FETÖ suspects were detained by police in an operation.
Separately, in a Kastamonu-based operation, police apprehended 12 suspects.
In the northwestern Balıkesir province, six suspects were rounded up for using ByLock, an encrypted smartphone messaging app used by FETÖ members before and during the defeated coup.
Also, 13 suspects, including a lieutenant and a cadet, who had been expelled from a military school, were detained for their links to FETÖ as part of an eastern Erzurum-centered FETÖ investigation, according to a statement by the provincial governor’s office in Erzurum.
The Gülen network, which the Turkish authorities refer to as FETÖ, and its leader United States-based Fethullah Gülen are widely believed to have orchestrated the failed coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people killed and nearly 2,200 injured.
Ankara also accuses the Gülen network of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.
