December 27, 2017•Update: December 27, 2017
By Burcu Arik and Sena Guler
ISTANBUL
Around 170 suspected members of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind last year’s defeated coup in Turkey, were arrested on Wednesday, according to security officials.
The police arrested 59 suspects, including 26 women, in simultaneous raids conducted in 29 provinces, said an official who asked not to be named due to restrictions on talking to the media.
Istanbul prosecutors earlier issued arrest warrants for 171 suspects, all formerly at the FETO-affiliated Fatih University in Istanbul, which was shut down by an emergency decree after the botched coup attempt.
Another 23 suspects of various occupations were detained during another operation in Istanbul, which was launched after prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 58 people.
The suspects are accused of using ByLock, an encrypted smartphone messaging app used by FETO members before and during the defeated coup.
In the Mediterranean province of Antalya, at least 10 suspected members of the group were arrested in an early morning operation, another official said.
Doctors, academics, and teachers were among those arrested, the official added.
In another operation in the eastern province of Igdir, four suspected financiers of FETO were arrested.
In the southern province of Osmaniye, police carried out an operation targeting secret FETO hideouts, detaining a total of 16 people, Osmaniye prosecutors said in a statement.
Security forces also apprehended four people, including businesspeople, in the southeastern Gaziantep province, as part of operations against the terror group.
Seventeen suspects, including 15 soldiers, were detained in an operation centered in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak and spread over seven provinces, including Izmir, Bursa, and Ankara.
A total of 26 suspects were arrested over links to FETO in southern Hatay province-based simultaneous operations, including 10 other provinces, according to another source.
During another operation centered in the central province of Sivas and launched in 12 provinces, 15 suspects, including 13 soldiers, were arrested.
FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup attempt, which left 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 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.
* Leyla Ataman Koyuncuoglu and Suleyman Elcin from Antalya, Ferdi Akilli from Zonguldak, Zuhal Kocalar from Gaziantep, Huseyin Yildiz from Igdir, Erdinc Aksoy from Osmaniye, Huseyin Bagis and Halil Demir from Istanbul, Burak Milli and Salim Tas from Hatay, Halife Yalcinkaya from Sivas contributed to this report.
