Turkey to reinstate hundreds of FETO suspects

By Sarp Ozer

ANKARA (AA) - Hundreds of civil servants who were dismissed from for suspected links to a terrorist group accused of trying to overthrow the government, will be reinstated, the official gazette said Wednesday.

The statutory decree said the 416 employees have to begin work in 10 days to be reinstated. All of their financial and social rights that were lost after they were dismissed will also be reinstated.

The civil servants were suspected of being members or linked to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) and include employees from the interior, health, justice and national defense ministries, as well as from the Turkish Armed Forces, General Directorate of Security, Directorate of Religious Affairs and other state institutions.

They were among thousands of public officials dismissed nationwide in the wake of the deadly July 15 coup attempt last July. Many others employees remain under investigation.

Led by U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen, FETO is accused of orchestrating the failed putsch coup plot as well as being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through infiltrating Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and the judiciary.