Journalist Murat Aksoy, singer Atilla Taş get jail terms for FETÖ links

ISTANBUL/KONYA – Anadolu Agency

Turkish singer Atilla Taş and journalist Murat Aksoy were jailed once again on March 8 for their suspected links to the Fetullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), according to a judicial source.

Istanbul’s 25th Criminal Court handed a jail term of three years, one month and 15 days to Taş, and two years and one month to Aksoy for “helping the organization knowingly and willingly,” while not being “a part of the hierarchical structure within the organization,” said the source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

The two had been arrested in April last year, while charges against them were dropped in October after they spent over half a year behind bars.

During the same hearing, 23 other suspects were handed jail terms ranging from six years and three months to seven years and six months, as part of a probe into FETÖ’s structure in media.

They are accused of “being a member of a terror group” and “participating in a coup attempt.”

Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu and Hanım Büşra Erdal were also among journalists who received jail terms of six years and three months.

Warrants issued for 230 people

Arrest warrants for more than 230 people across Turkey were issued for their suspected links to FETÖ on March 9, according to judicial sources.

The Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in the Central Anatolian province of Konya issued arrest warrants for 84 FETÖ suspects, which was followed by simultaneous operations in 43 provinces by anti-organized crime units, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.

Some 40 out of the 84 have been arrested so far in the Konya-based operations.

The Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in the capital Ankara also issued arrest warrants for 92 FETÖ suspects in 12 provinces, the office said in a statement, adding that police were searching for suspects in 20 provinces.

The suspects were once teachers who worked at FETÖ-linked schools, it added.

Separately, arrest warrants for 57 suspects were issued by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on charges they were members of an armed terror group, according to a different judicial source.

The suspects from various professions were found to have used ByLock, an encrypted mobile phone application used by FETÖ members to communicate during and after the defeated coup of 2016.

Out of the 57 suspects, 14 have been arrested so far in Istanbul-based simultaneous operations, while the police were searching for the remaining suspects, the source added.

The gendarmerie apprehended eight FETÖ suspects in operations across five provinces, while police arrested a school teacher in the northwestern Balıkesir province.

Turkey accuses FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gülen of having orchestrated the defeated coup attempt of July 15, 2016, which left 250 people killed and nearly 2,200 injured.