More than 8,000 soldiers worked as FETO putschists

ANKARA

The night of the defeated July 2016 coup, there were more than 8,000 military personnel working for the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the coup, said a judicial source Saturday, revealing new details of the night Turkey defeated a would-be putsch against the elected government.

A March 8 indictment in Ankara’s 17th Heavy Penal Court also revealed that the night of July 15, 35 planes, 37 helicopters, 246 armored vehicles, and around 4,000 light weapons were used in the failed attempt “to overthrow the democratic constitutional order by treasonous FETO members,” said the source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

To date prosecutors have submitted charges against 221 defendants as part of the main indictment, including U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen, said to be the central figures behind the bid to overthrow the government, which left 249 people martyred and some 2,200 injured.

Among the suspects are the members of the so-called “Peace at Home Council” established by the coup-plotters to replace the government.

Listed were a general, three lieutenant generals, four major generals, 16 brigadier generals, and three rear admirals. Twelve of the suspects are civilians.

Prominent defendants include Ali Yazici, the former military aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan; Levent Turkkan, Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar’s ex-aide; and Muhammet Uslu, a former official in the prime minister’s private office.

Led by Gulen, FETO is accused of orchestrating the coup plot as well as being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and the judiciary.

Reporting by Zafer Fatih Beyaz:Writing by Sibel Ugurlu