UPDATE 3 - Arrest warrants out for FETO suspects

UPDATES WITH MORE ARRESTS

By Savas Guler

KONYA, Turkey (AA) - Arrest warrants for 233 people for their suspected links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup, were issued across Turkey on Friday, according to judicial sources.

The Chief Public Prosecutor’s Offices in central Konya province issued arrest warrants for 84 FETO suspects, which was followed by simultaneous operations in 43 provinces by anti-organized crime units, the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, said.

Forty out of 84 have been arrested so far in the Konya-based operations.

The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in the capital Ankara also issued arrest warrants for 92 FETO suspects in 12 provinces, the office said in a statement.

During the raids, the police teams have so far arrested 54 suspects, said the police sources.

The suspects were former teachers who have worked at FETO-linked schools, it added.

Separately, arrest warrants for 57 suspects were issued by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutors Office on the charge of armed terror group membership, according to a separate judicial source.

The suspects from various professions were found to have used ByLock, an encrypted mobile phone application used by FETO members to communicate during and after the defeated coup of 2016.

Out of the 57 suspects, 14 have been arrested so far in Istanbul-based simultaneous operations; while the police were searching for the remaining suspects, the source added.

Later, the nationwide operations against the terror group also saw arrest of 54 more suspects.

In Mersin-based operation, the gendarmerie apprehended eight FETO suspects in 5 provinces, while police arrested 6 others in northwestern province of Tekirdag.

In Balikesir, a northwestern province, police arrested 20 people -- 18 of them were military official --, according to the province’s office.

The suspects, who were found to have contacted the group members via public phone, were arrested in simultaneous operations against the group’s terror structure in Turkish military.

In Antalya-based operation, the organized crime units nabbed 8 FETO suspects in Kocaeli, Burdur and Bursa provinces for using ByLock application.

Nineteen others were arrested in operations based in western Manisa and Usak provinces.

Among the suspects were on-duty soldiers and former cadets, and police, as well as a teacher dismissed from position.

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.