Turkey: 61 suspects held over links to FETO
Three suspects in southeastern Sanliurfa given prison sentences over links to Fetullah terrorist group
ANKARA
Police arrested 61 suspects in Turkey on Monday over their suspected links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), security sources said.
In the western province of Balikesir, 13 soldiers on-duty were arrested over charge of serving as the group's "covert imams", a term used to refer to suspected senior members within the organization, the sources said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to media.
Sources said that three more soldiers on active duty were arrested in the central Tokat province.
The remainder of the suspects arrested Monday were civilians, sources added.
Also, a court in the southeastern Sanliurfa province handed down prison sentences varying from 2.5 years to 12 years to three people on Monday for their involvement in a FETO network within the police force, a judicial source said requesting anonymity due to restrictions on talking to media.
FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the July 2016 defeated coup, which martyred 250 people and injured nearly 2,200.
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.
Reporting by Abdulkadir Nisanci adn Salih Baran; Writing by Fatih Hafiz Mehmet
