Turkish state reinstates hundreds of FETO suspects

By Duygu Yener, Aynur Ekiz

ANKARA - Hundreds of civil servants, who were dismissed for suspected links to a terrorist group accused of trying to overthrow the government, have been reinstated, the official gazette said Friday.

The civil servants were suspected of being members or linked to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

The statutory decree said the 312 reinstated civil servants include two deputy governors and employees from the interior, health, justice, education ministries and from universities, the Directorate of Religious Affairs and other state institutions.

They will recover all the financial and social rights and benefits that they lost when they were dismissed.

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

Led by U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen, FETO is accused of orchestrating the defeated coup attempt and of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and the judiciary.