4 FETO suspects arrested in Turkey while trying to flee to Greece

IZMIR/EDIRNE, Turkey

A total of four suspected members of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) were arrested in Turkey, security sources said on Thursday.

At least four people, including one suspected member of FETO, the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, were arrested while trying to escape to Greece from Turkey.

The suspects were nabbed on a boat in the Cesme district of the Aegean Izmir province, added the sources who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Zeynel A., one of the suspects and also a former member of the Democracy and Progress (DEVA) Party's Izmir provincial executive board, is still on trial for allegedly being a member of FETO, the sources added.

In a statement, DEVA Party said Zeynel A. resigned from his duties in the party as of May 29, and his resignation was accepted on June 1, adding that he had no contact with the party since then.

While Zeynep A. and the captain of the boat were remanded in custody, two other suspects were released under judicial control.

Also, three more suspected members of FETO were arrested while trying to escape to Greece from Turkey's northwestern Edirne province, and the suspects were later remanded.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 2016 in Turkey, in which 251 people were killed 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.

Separately, a suspected member of the PKK terrorist organization and allegedly a member of the far-left DHKP-C terror group were nabbed while trying to flee to Greece from Turkey's northwestern Edirne province.

The two suspects were nabbed in a restricted military zone in the Meric district of Edirne, near the Turkey-Greece border.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

*Writing by Seda Sevencan in Istanbul