Turkey nabs 6 for trying to illegally cross borders

ANKARA

At least six people were nabbed in Turkey while trying to illegally cross the country’s borders, the National Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

In a Twitter post, the ministry said the arrested included those who want to enter Turkey from Syria and those who tried to flee to Greece.

It said that among the people arrested are two suspected members of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, and one suspected member of the Daesh/ISIS terror group.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people dead 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.

In 2013, Turkey became one of the first countries to declare Daesh/ISIS a terrorist organization.

The country has since been attacked by the terror group multiple times, with over 300 people killed and hundreds more injured in at least 10 suicide bombings, seven bomb attacks, and four armed assaults.

In response, Turkey launched anti-terror operations at home and abroad to prevent further attacks.