UPDATE - 109 FETO-linked suspects arrested in Turkey

UPDATES WITH MORE ARRESTS

By Sibel Ugurlu

ANKARA (AA) - More than 100 people were arrested across Turkey on Thursday for suspected links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind last year’s defeated coup, according to a security official.

In western Izmir province, 27 FETO suspects, including FETO leader Fetullah Gulen’s nephew Selcuk S., were held in simultaneous raids on several addresses.

Among them are 16 suspects, for whom arrest warrants had been issued earlier.

The suspects are accused of being members of an armed terrorist organization and using FETO’s encrypted smart phone messaging application, ByLock.

In central Sivas province, eight women who allegedly attended meetings with wives of dismissed FETO members, were arrested.

Separately, police arrested 45 FETO-linked suspects in eastern Malatya province.

Twenty-one of the suspects were active members of FETO while 21 others were being investigated by security forces.

In the Black Sea province of Zonguldak, four suspects, including a former police officer, were arrested after the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued arrest warrants for them.

In northwestern Edirne province, five FETO suspects -- including a former teacher and a former engineer -- were held on the Turkish-Greek border during a patrol in a military zone.

Three Pakistani nationals were also arrested for human trafficking.

Separately, six people were arrested in southern Antalya province, six others in western Kutahya province and another four suspects in western Denizli province.

In northwestern Kocaeli province, four people, including the so-called provincial head of the group's military personnel, were arrested in simultaneous raids on many addresses.

They were all accused of being members of a terrorist organization.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup on July 15, 2016, which left 250 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.