37 more FETO terror suspects nabbed in Turkey

IZMIR/ANKARA

Turkish security forces arrested 37 more people for suspected links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in the country, security sources said on Thursday.

In an operation targeting cell houses of the terror group, 35 suspects were nabbed by counterterror teams in the Aegean province of Izmir, according to the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Prosecutors in Izmir had issued warrants for 39 suspects and efforts are ongoing to track down the remaining four individuals.

The arrested suspects included senior FETO members known as covert imams and soldiers who had been dismissed from service.

Fake identification documents, along with 100,000 Turkish liras (over $11,900), $7,000, and €4,000 (over $4,800) in cash, were also found at the FETO cell houses, the sources added.

In a separate operation in the northwestern Edirne province, authorities apprehended two FETO suspects who were trying to escape to Greece.

The suspects were nabbed by border troops in the town of Meric and have been transferred to the provincial gendarmerie command, according to Turkey’s National Defense Ministry.

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.