UPDATE - Turkey: Arrest warrants out for 69 FETO-linked suspects

UPDATES WITH MORE ARREST WARRANTS; CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE

By Baris Kilic

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish prosecutors on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for 69 suspects over their alleged links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the defeated coup of July 2016.

According to a statement by the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in the capital Ankara, 29 suspects are accused of leaking police recruitment exam questions in 2011 to FETO-linked officers.

The Ankara-based operations in seven provinces are underway.

Separately, the same prosecutor's office issued arrest warrants for 40 suspected FETO members including 21 active-duty personnel as part of a probe into the Turkish Land Forces Command. Operations were launched in 21 provinces.

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