Turkey: Police conduct raids to arrest 38 FETO suspects

By Adem Koc and Halil Demir

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish police launched Friday simultaneous operations in five provinces to arrest 38 suspects who are accused of making money transfers on behalf of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

The Istanbul-based raids -- which also targeted Ankara, Izmir, Bursa and Hatay -- came after an Istanbul court issued an arrest warrant for the suspects as part of a probe into the group's financial network, a police source said.

The suspects are accused of transferring money and gold into the organization’s affiliated establishments abroad through an association and two companies between 2011 and 2014.

The 38 suspects, who are either the executives or partners of the three Istanbul-based entities, are also accused of financing Turkey trips of around 7,000 foreign students on behalf of the organization between 2003 and 2010.

According to the government, FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 2016, which left 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Since the defeated coup, operations have been ongoing in the military, police and judiciary, as well as in state institutions across the country, to arrest suspects with alleged links to FETO.