2 FETO suspects get prison sentences in Turkey

ANKARA

Two Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) suspects were given prison sentences in separate court hearings on Thursday, according to judicial sources.

A court in central Corum province sentenced a businessman for up to seven years in prison for being part of an armed terrorist organization.

The businessman is a high-level manager of FETO, said a judicial official, who refused to be named due to restrictions on talking to the media.

In another hearing in southern Kahramanmaras province, a FETO-linked former teacher was sentenced to two years and a month in prison for aiding a terrorist organization.

Nationwide operations

Also on Thursday, 56 FETO suspects were arrested in nationwide counter-terror operations.

In an Istanbul-based operation conducted in 14 provinces, 20 out of 56 suspects were arrested for alleged FETO links. Earlier, arrest warrants for the suspects had been issued by the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul for using the ByLock mobile phone application, an encrypted software used by FETO members before and during last year’s coup attempt.

In northwestern Canakkale province, 13 others were arrested by security forces. They included ByLock app users, seven sergeants of the Air Forces Command, four PKK members, a Daesh member and a far-left terror group DHKP-C member.

In another northwestern Kocaeli-based operation, 23 suspects were arrested in 13 different provinces of Turkey, including Istanbul and Ankara. Earlier, the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Kocaeli issued arrest warrants for 34 former and on-duty military personnel.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the July 15, 2016, defeated coup attempt in Turkey, which martyred 250 and left nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara also blames FETO for being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.

Reporting by Gazi Nogay and Ersoy Sevinc, Halil Demir; Writing by Sena Guler