Detention warrants out for 84 FETÖ-linked suspects

Detention warrants out for 84 FETÖ-linked suspects

Detention warrants out for 84 FETÖ-linked suspects

Turkish prosecutors issued detention warrants for 30 suspects on Dec. 24 over links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup, security sources said.

Prosecutors in the central Konya province said that 23 of the suspects were on duty soldiers.

The suspects were accused of allegedly serving as FETÖ's "covert imams" -- senior members of the terror group -- said the source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

The suspects were sought as part of a probe into FETÖ's clandestine network in the Turkish Armed Forces.

Police conducted simultaneous operations centered in Konya across 23 provinces.

Separately, police detained 34 people for their alleged links to the FETÖ terror group.

Arrest warrants were detained for 54 sergeants in the Turkish Land Forces, including eight active-duty soldiers, as part of a probe into the terror group's infiltration of the Turkish Land Forces, according to the prosecutors in Istanbul.

In Istanbul-centered simultaneous operations across 16 provinces, 34 suspects were detained.

The detentions came on charges of using ByLock, the terror group's encrypted smartphone messaging app and having communicated with the terror group members via payphone.

FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gülen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people killed and nearly 2,200 injured.

Turkey accuses FETÖ of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.