Turkish police arrest 16 FETO suspects

By Suleyman Elcin, Ismet Karakas, Cankut Tasdan</p> <p>ANTALYA/ANKARA (AA) – Police arrested 16 suspects late Friday for alleged links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) and remanded 39 others in custody.</p> <p>Police sources said they conducted simultaneous anti-terror operations across Turkey against members of FETO, the terror group behind the 2016 defeated coup, and arrested 16 suspects.</p> <p>The suspects had arrest warrants for being members of an armed terrorist organization.</p> <p>Police also seized “digital materials” during the operations.</p> <p>In Ankara, 39 suspects were remanded in custody over an ongoing FETO probe.</p> <p>Meanwhile, 85 FETO suspects were brought to Ankara Courthouse by order of the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. </p> <p>On Feb. 25, the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office issued arrest warrants for 100 military personnel and a “covert imam”, or senior figure in FETO, and 85 suspects were arrested.</p> <p>The arrest warrants had been issued for the suspects for allegedly having contact with &quot;covert imams&quot; by payphone, judicial sources told Anadolu Agency.</p> <p>The court released 45 of the suspects under judicial control but sent 39 others to prison. Ankara prosecutors released one of the suspects.</p> <p>Police are still looking for the fugitive suspects.</p> <p>FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup on July 15, 2016 which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>Writing by Dilara Hamit and Can Erozden