Erdogan praises Turkish police’s anti-terror efforts

By Hulya Corakci Ertan and Etem Geylan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday praised the efforts of country’s police in the fight against terrorism.

Erdogan was speaking to police officials at an iftar dinner in Istanbul.

"I'll tell you straight, very few countries can do a successful and fair fight against such a damned network, which infiltrated into Turkish state's capillaries," referring to Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup attempt.

"Very few people in the world can tenaciously tackle such a heavy trauma like this as our people did," the president said.

The July 15, 2016 defeated coup orchestrated by the FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen left in total 250 people martyred and some 2,200 injured.

Turkey also 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.