Former Turkish editor faces life term over FETO links

By Muhammed Enes Can and Murat Kaya

ISTANBUL (AA) - A Turkish prosecutor on Friday demanded life imprisonment for 16 people including a former daily editor and journalists over suspected links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), according to a judicial source.

Zaman's former editor-in-chief, Ekrem Dumanli, former police officer cum journalist Emre Uslu, journalist Tuncay Opcin, columnist Nazli İlicak, professor Mehmet Altan and his brother Ahmet Altan, journalist and author, are among the suspects.

Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor for Terrorism and Organized Crimes, Can Tuncay sought three times aggravated life imprisonment for the suspects in the 247-page indictment sent to Istanbul's 26th High Criminal Court on Friday.

The suspects are accused of attempting to break constitutional order, and to overthrow the Turkish government and the parliament.

Dumanli, Uslu and Opcin also face a prison sentence of 15 to 25.5 years each for being senior members of an armed terrorist organization, while the Altan brothers and Ilicak face an additional 7.5 to 15 years in jail for committing crimes on behalf of an armed terrorist group.

According to the Turkish government, the Fetullah Terrorist Organization and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 2016, which left 249 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara has also said FETO is behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.

In the wake of the putsch attempt, tens of thousands of FETO suspects have been arrested, including many in the armed forces, police, judicial system, education and business sectors.

More than 47,000 suspects accused of having links to the FETO were remanded in Turkey since the foiled coup, according to Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu.