Erdogan vows to bring FETO members to justice

By S. Ahmet Aytac

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish president on Saturday vowed to bring the members of Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) to justice.

“Wherever they hide, we will find and bring those to justice who betrayed our nation,” said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his speech at the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party's sixth annual provincial congress in western city of Usak.

“FETO’s mindset is behind many dark and bloody events in Turkey's recent political history... They are the plotters of many provocations,” he said.

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.

Speaking about Turkish military operation in Syria’s Afrin, the president said they are “doing what is necessary”.

The president made it clear that changing names of terror groups would not satisfy Turkey. "The PKK, YPG, PYD are all same; changing names does not change the fact that they are terror organizations," he said.

Turkish military units are already deployed in Afrin, a district of Aleppo near the Turkish-Syria border, which is under siege by the PYD/PKK terrorist organization.

The PYD/PKK is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terrorist group, which has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU.

Since the mid-1980s, the PKK has waged a wide-ranging terror campaign against the Turkish state in which an estimated 40,000 people have been killed.

More than 1,200 security personnel have been martyred since July 2015 when the group resumed its armed campaign against the Turkish state following a fragile cease-fire.