By Halil Demir, Ibrahim Toprak, Serdar Acil and Cemil Murat Budak
ISTANBUL/BATMAN/ANKARA, Turkey (AA) – Turkish police arrested 35 people over their suspected links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, security sources said on Friday.
In Turkey’s largest city Istanbul, prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 46 suspects as part of a probe against police academy students who were reportedly in contact with the FETO terror group, said the sources, asking not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
Turkish police carried out operations across six provinces and arrested 30 suspects, with efforts underway to nab the remaining individuals, the sources added.
Nine of the suspects were abroad, according to the sources.
Five more suspects, including four on-duty soldiers, were nabbed in Turkey’s eastern Batman province.
Separately, prosecutors in the capital Ankara issued arrest warrants for 22 suspects for cheating in a police exam in 2012.
FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people dead and 2,734 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.
