FETO members to face 'heaviest punishment' in Turkey

By Fatih Hafiz Mehmet, Sefa Mutlu and Ali Kemal Akan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s justice system will hand down the harshest punishment to members of Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), according to Premier Binali Yildirim on Thursday.

Speaking at an iftar -- a special meal that Muslims take to break their fast -- organized for families of martyrs and veterans in Istanbul, Yildirim said the July 15 coup bid was the severest terror threat Turkey had ever faced.

According to the Turkish government, 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 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.

Yildirim said the coup plotter FETO members were giving account of their deeds in Turkish courts and were openly lying in vain efforts to dupe the nation.

“These cowards should know that Turkish justice will give them the heaviest punishment they deserve," he said.

Turkey is a state with rule of law where crimes do not go unpunished, he added.

In his remarks, Deputy Premier Numan Kurtulmus said terrorist organizations like FETO and PKK were designed to create trouble in Turkey.

Kurtulmus said the PKK had caused economic damage to the tune of approximately $1.5 trillion to Turkey -- funds that could have been invested for economic development instead of fighting against with terror.

More than 1,200 people, including security force personnel and civilians -- many of them women and children -- have lost their lives since the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU -- resumed its decades-old armed campaign in July 2015.