Detention warrants issued for 70 Turkish soldiers for links to FETÖ

ISTANBUL

Detention warrants were issued for 70 soldiers in the Central Anatolian province of Konya on April 13 as part of a probe into the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).

The Konya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued the arrest warrants, which target on-duty soldiers, based on the testimony of detained army officials, according to judicial sources who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to media.

Police then conducted simultaneous operations in 34 provinces to apprehend the suspects.

Meanwhile, a court in Edirne on April 12 ordered the release of three Bulgarian citizens who were accused of helping a FETÖ suspect flee Turkey.

Gyursel Yuzeir Mustafa, Nikolay Milenov Kasabov, and Shaban Hasan Murad all denied the charges and the Edirne court ruled for the release of the three suspects.

Since the coup attempt, Turkey has worked to extradite individuals abroad who it accuses of links to the movement, including Gülen himself.

At the end of March, Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MİT) brought six people suspected of links to FETÖ from Kosovo to Turkey in an operation carried out with the cooperation of the former’s spy agency.

Earlier this month, the MİT also brought three members of FETÖ from the Central African country Gabon to the Turkish capital Ankara, and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed on April 7 that Turkey would “continue pursuing suspects” abroad.

According to the Turkish government, FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gülen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 250 people killed and nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara also accuses FETÖ of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.