Detention warrants out for 99 FETÖ-linked suspects including former air force pilots

ANKARA

In the second major operation against the group led by the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen after the June 24 elections in Turkey, detention warrants have been issued for 99 people by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Ankara on June 27.

Suspects accused of being members of what the authorities call the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) include an air commodore and 30 former pilots from the Turkish Air Force Command, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Separately, security units began operations to capture 22 suspected FETÖ-linked on-duty soldiers across 13 provinces as part of an investigation launched in the northwestern Balıkesir province.

In addition, security units began another operation to apprehend 71 FETÖ-linked military personnel across 16 provinces as part of a probe instigated in the Kocaeli province, also in the northwest.

Meanwhile, the district governor of the eastern province of Muş’s Hasköy district, Ahmet Özkan, was detained on June 27. The detention warrant was issued by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office in the eastern province of Erzurum, according to Anadolu Agency.

Erzurum Chief Prosecutor’s Office also ordered the deputy governor of the southern province of Kilis, Muhammet Kaya, to be detained.

Police officers detained Kaya and sent him to Erzurum after carrying out searches in his house, office and car.

On June 26, prosecutors in the capital Ankara issued warrants for 43 suspects, including 30 dismissed and active soldiers and 13 alleged “covert imams” of the group at the Turkish Naval Forces Command.

Ankara prosecutors also issued detention warrants for six active-duty soldiers at the Gendarmerie General Command Forces on June 26.

The Gülen network is widely believed to have orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people killed and nearly 2,200 injured.

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