Turkey: Arrest warrants issued for 73 FETO suspects

Turkish prosecutors on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for 73 suspects over their alleged links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the defeated coup of July 2016.

According to a statement from the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in the capital Ankara, 40 suspects are accused of leaking police recruitment exam questions in 2011 to FETO-linked officers.

So far, 27 suspects have been arrested in Ankara-based operations in 21 provinces while the hunt for another suspect was underway.

Separately, a Kayseri prosecutor also issued arrest warrants for 33 suspects, including 27 active serving soldiers, who were previously found to have been in touch with “covert imams” of the FETO by payphone.

The suspects were sought by police in the Kayseri-based operation across 9 provinces.

Also on Tuesday, border guards arrested five FETO suspects who were trying to illegally cross to Greece from the northwestern province of Edirne.

The FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara also 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.

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