Detention warrants issued for 125 ‘secret imams’ of Gülen network

KONYA

A chief public prosecutor’s office in the Central Anatolian province of Konya on Sept. 20 issued detention warrants for 125 “secret imams” suspected of being in charge of Gülenist military personnel as part of an investigation into the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), widely believed to have undertaken last year’s failed coup attempt. 

Authorities said 30 suspects were already detained in simultaneous operations conducted in 32 provinces, while the police was continuing operations to detain the remaining 95 suspects who were not found at their addresses, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.  

The detention warrants were issued after police teams identified the hierarchy of the Gülen network based on previously detained Gülenist suspects’ testimonies and investigated analyses. 

Among the suspects is Mustafa Küçükköse, codenamed “Saffet,” believed to be responsible over Gülenist generals assigned on duty in Konya, daily Yeni Şafak reported. Küçükköse is known to be ranked in the Gülen network’s hierarchy just under Adil Öksüz, a key coup figure whose whereabouts have been unknown since July 2016.

The 125 “secret imams” are categorized under many hierarchical levels, ranked with the codenames “general manager,” “deputy manager” and “teachers.” In the Konya airbase, Küçükköse was named as the network’s “general manager,” with five “deputy managers” and 25 “teachers” at his command.
  
The police investigation also determined the network’s hierarchy in charge of Gülenist military high school and war academy students in Istanbul, whom they “looked after” for eight years throughout their education. 

In a separate incident, some 83 people formerly working at Gülen-linked schools and companies linked with the organization were detained in the western province of İzmir on Sept. 20, Doğan News Agency reported. 

The police conducted simultaneous operations to detain the suspects in central İzmir and the province’s Menemen, Aliağa, Bergama, Ödemiş, Tire, Torbalı, Kemalpaşa and Menderes districts as part of an investigation launched by the İzmir Public Prosecutor’s Office. 

Among the 98 suspects, for whom detention warrants were issued, some 83 suspects were detained. Following health checkups, the detainees were taken to the police’s anti-terror branch to give testimonies. The police are reportedly continuing their searches to find the remaining 15 suspects.