UPDATE - Turkey: Arrest warrants out for 70 FETO terror suspects

UPDATES WITH TWO MORE OPERATIONS, ARRESTS, CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK

By Cemil Murat Budak, Serdar Acil and Cankut Tasdan

ANKARA/USAK/BALIKESIR, Turkey (AA) - Turkish authorities Friday issued arrest warrants for 70 people across the country over their alleged links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup.

The Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Ankara said in a statement that warrants were issued for 27 suspects linked to the Turkish Land Forces Command who were found to be in frequent contact with terror group members via telephone communication.

Also, among them are eight soldiers on active duty.

Anti-terror police have arrested 19 of them so far in simultaneous operations, hunt for eight others are underway.

Separately in Balikesir, arrest warrants were issued for 15 suspects over their alleged links to FETO.

Operations have been launched in 10 provinces to arrest the suspects.

Meanwhile, security forces arrested 26 FETO suspects in operations across 12 provinces.

The arrests came after the prosecutors in the Aegean Usak province issued arrest warrants for 28 people.

Police are still looking for the remaining suspects.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Turkey 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 Seda Sevencan; Mehmet Calik, and Sergen Sezgin contributed to the story.