Turkish police arrest 16 FETO suspects

By Suleyman Elcin, Ismet Karakas, Cankut Tasdan

ANTALYA/ANKARA (AA) - Police arrested 16 suspects late Friday for alleged links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) and remanded 39 others in custody.

Police sources said they conducted simultaneous anti-terror operations across Turkey against members of FETO, the terror group behind the 2016 defeated coup, and arrested 16 suspects.

The suspects had arrest warrants for being members of an armed terrorist organization.

Police also seized “digital materials” during the operations.

In Ankara, 39 suspects were remanded in custody over an ongoing FETO probe.

Meanwhile, 85 FETO suspects were brought to Ankara Courthouse by order of the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

On Feb. 25, the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office issued arrest warrants for 100 military personnel and a “covert imam”, or senior figure in FETO, and 85 suspects were arrested.

The arrest warrants had been issued for the suspects for allegedly having contact with "covert imams" by payphone, judicial sources told Anadolu Agency.

The court released 45 of the suspects under judicial control but sent 39 others to prison. Ankara prosecutors released one of the suspects.

Police are still looking for the fugitive suspects.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup on 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.

Writing by Dilara Hamit and Can Erozden