ANKARA

At least seven people with suspected links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, were arrested in an anti-terror operation, Turkish authorities said on Friday.

Prosecutors in the capital Ankara issued arrest warrants for eight suspects as part of a probe into the terror group’s alleged presence in the Turkish Air Forces Command.

The Ankara-based operations were held across four provinces of Turkey for arresting the suspects – five of them active-duty military personnel, one retired, and two dismissed sergeants.

The suspects are accused of communicating with FETO's "covert imams" -- senior FETO members -- via landline phones, it said.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people martyred and 2,734 injured.

Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.

Since the coup attempt, tens of thousands of FETO suspects have been arrested, including many in the armed forces, police, judicial system, and education sector.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar