Turkey: Arrest warrants out for 85 FETO-linked suspects

ANKARA

Arrest warrants have been issued for 85 suspects, including 10 lawyers, as part of a probe into Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) in Turkey.

In a statement Tuesday, Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in capital Ankara said 75 of the suspects were students, who had been accused of obtaining leaked question papers of a Police Academy examination held in 2009.

The statement said 10 of them were arrested in the operation that continued in 30 provinces.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which martyred 250 people and injured nearly 2,200 others.

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.

Five of the 10 FETO-linked lawyers were also accused of using ByLock, an encrypted smart phone messaging app used by the terrorist group’s members before and during last year's coup attempt, it said.

Six of those 10 lawyers have been arrested so far.

Separately, two former soldiers were sentenced to 6 years in jail each in northern Sinop on Tuesday on charges of “being a member of an armed terror organization” and attempting to "overthrow the constitutional order".

A suspect in Izmir named Erhan Hepoglu was also convicted to eight years in prison for “being a member of an armed terror organization”.

Hepoglu was said to have used ByLock app 6,267 times; he also had an account in FETO's Bank Asya, received scholarship from a FETO-linked association and also had Gulen's videos and images on his memory card.

Furthermore, one of seven suspects arrested for links with FETO in eastern Elazig on Friday was remanded in custody; rest of the six suspects were released under judicial control.

Another suspect in southern Adana and a former police chief in central Malatya were convicted to six years and three months in prison for “being a member of an armed terror organization".

Former Aydin Provincial Director of Culture and Tourism Nuri Aktakka was convicted to six years and three months in prison for links with FETO; Lutfiye Aktakka was convicted to three years, one month and 15 days in prison on the same charge.

Three suspects in western Burdur were also convicted to six years and three months in prison for “being a member of an armed terror organization”.

Meanwhile, 11 suspects in western Eskisehir, including some senior figures of FETO were given prison sentences ranging from two years to 12 years for links with FETO.

A FETO fugitive -- forensic science expert Bunyamin Baspinar -- was also arrested from southeastern Kahramanmaras.

* Omer Sut from Izmir, Recep Bilek from Samsun, Volkan Kasik from Malatya, Mehmet Calik from Aydin, Bilal Altiok from Burdur, Ersoy Sevinc from Kahramanmaras, Neset Karadag from Adana, Selcuk Kizildag from Eskisehir and Ismail Sen from Elazig contributed to this report.