UPDATE - Turkey: Police arrest 79 FETO terror suspects

UPDATES WITH MORE ARRESTS, CHANGES HEADLINE, LEDE

By Harun Kaymaz

BILECIK, Turkey (AA) – Turkish police have arrested 79 suspects across Turkey over alleged links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup, security sources said Wednesday.

In the western province of Bilecik, police arrested 12 suspects, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on talking to the media.

The suspects, all suspended teachers, were taken into custody as part of a probe launched by Bilecik prosecutors, added the source.

The Hakkari Governor’s Office said in a statement that Turkish security forces launched anti-terror operations in nine provinces over suspected FETO links.

The suspects are accused of using ByLock, an encrypted cellphone app used by coup-plotters.

In Turkey’s southern Adana province, police arrested 27 suspects, a security source said.

Turkish police carried out anti-terror operations at 40 addresses in 21 provinces after a six-month investigation, the source added.

Most suspects arrested during the operations are currently working sergeants and army officials, the source added.

In the Black Sea province of Gumushane, police arrested 15 suspects, including 12 military personnel.

In the central Anatolian province of Eskisehir, police arrested two suspects over alleged links to FETO.

Police in the central Anatolian province of Nigde said that a total of 14 suspects were arrested in operations carried out in Nigde, Istanbul, and the capital Ankara.

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

* Yılmaz Kazandıoglu in Hakkari, Yusuf Koyun in Adana, Veysel Kara in Gumushane, Emrah Yasar in Eskisehir, Abdullah Ozkul in Nigde contributed to this story.