Türkİye

Prosecutor cites concrete evidence of FETO release plot

Documents show FETO's US-based leader ordered terror group members in judiciary to release 63 FETO suspects, says prosecutor

15.12.2017 - Update : 15.12.2017
Prosecutor cites concrete evidence of FETO release plot

By Muhammed Enes Can and Mustafa Hatipoglu

ISTANBUL

Documents and digital materials confiscated from a former staffer at a newspaper linked to FETO -- the group behind last year’s defeated coup in Turkey -- constitute “concrete evidence” of a 2015 plot to free FETO members from prison, a top Turkish prosecutor said Friday.

Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Irfan Fidan told reporters that the documents found at the house of a staffer for Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO)-linked daily Zaman included a clear instruction document given by Fetullah Gulen, the U.S.-based leader of the terrorist group, to release some top members of FETO's media structure from Turkish jail.

The documents bear Gulen's signature ordering FETO members in the Turkish judiciary to release some top FETO detainees.

After receiving the order from Gulen, on April 25, 2015, then-judges and alleged FETO members Mustafa Baser and Metin Ozcelik released all 63 FETO suspects.

They included Hidayet Karaca, the head of FETO-link Samanyolu TV, former police commission Ali Fuat Yılmazer, Nazmi Ardic, Yurt Atayun, Omer Kose, Yasin Topcu, and Huseyin Korkmaz.

The 10th Criminal Court of Peace in Istanbul ruled against the release order that same night and stopped the group from being freed.

But Huseyin Korkmaz, a fugitive alleged FETO member and former Turkish police supervisor, fled to the U.S. after being released in February 2016. He is currently testifying in a case against Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the former deputy CEO of Turkey's Halkbank, in a court case in New York.

On April 8, 2015, shortly before the release plot, Fevzi Yazici, who headed Zaman’s graphics department, traveled to the U.S. and returned to Turkey on April 18, according to Fidan, who said that Yazici brought the documents from Gulen with him.

He said that it was a part of larger plot orchestrated by FETO members in Turkey in league with foreign intelligence services.

Zaman daily was closed in 2016 due to its links with the terrorist group.

Yazici is one of 52 suspects in an investigation of the media structure of the FETO terror group.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the July 15, 2016 defeated coup attempt, which left 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 others wounded.

The group is accused of a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.

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