Turkey: Senior FETO members brought from Ukraine

By Muhammed Nuri Erdogan and Sertac Bulur

ANKARA (AA) - The so-called heads of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) of two major cities in Iraq have been brought to Turkey from Ukraine, the Turkish Interior Ministry announced Wednesday.

In a statement, the ministry said that Salih Fidan and Samet Gure, who are the terror group's chiefs in Baghdad and Erbil, respectively, were arrested while trying to illegally traverse the Ukraine-Poland border.

A Turkish court had issued arrest warrants for both men over their suspected membership in FETO, the group behind the 2016-defeated coup, the statement added.

The suspects are currently in the capital Ankara, where they are being processed at the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 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.