UPDATE - Turkish police arrest 39 FETO terror suspects

UPDATES WITH TOTAL NUMBER OF ARRESTS; ADDS DETAILS; CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK

By Mustafa Gungor, Melike Keskin and Ilker Gurel

IZMIR/KONYA/EDIRNE, Turkey (AA) - Police in Turkey arrested 39 people over their suspected links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in the country, security sources said on Friday.

Prosecutors in the central Konya province issued arrest warrants for 10 suspects as part of a probe into FETO’s infiltration into the Turkish Armed Forces, said a source on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Police conducted simultaneous operations across seven provinces and arrested seven suspects, it said, adding operations are ongoing to nab the remaining suspects.

Separately, police arrested 29 suspects during simultaneous operations in the western Izmir province, another security source said.

Three other suspects were nabbed in the country's northwestern Edirne province, which borders Greece, over alleged links to the terror group while trying to flee to Greece illegally.

Identified with the initials N.V, A.G., and A.K, the suspects were remanded by the court following their statements.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, in which 251 people were martyred and 2,734 injured.

Ankara 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 Gozde Bayar​​​​​​​ and Dilan Pamuk in Ankara