Police detained dozens of suspects across the country on Thursday as part of an operation against the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). Some 40 suspects were detained when Daily Sabah went to print, while media outlets said there were still detention warrants for at least 100 people issued by the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in Konya, a central city.
Anadolu Agency reported that the suspects included senior members of FETÖ. The group faces a barrage of trials primarily for its role in the July 15 coup attempt. A manhunt has been launched to capture the suspects at large.
The suspects are accused of being members of an armed terrorist organization, managing an armed terrorist organization and financing terror. Since the foiled coup, operations to arrest suspects with alleged links to FETÖ have been ongoing in the military, police and judiciary, as well as in state institutions across the country.
Thousands of people were dismissed from the army, police, judiciary and bureaucracy in operations after the foiled putsch, while prosecutors all across the country, almost daily, have been issuing detention and arrest warrants for FETÖ suspects. Many senior figures of the terror cult are believed to have fled abroad both before and after the coup attempt.
The terror cult is known for its strict hierarchy and widespread infiltration into state-run agencies, the army, police and others.
Konya, a traditionally conservative city, was at the heart of a FETÖ investigation. FETÖ originally started out as a purported religious movement focusing on charity work, however, as it gained a foothold in the state with its infiltrators, it moved to seize power by force.
An unidentified suspect detained in an earlier investigation in Konya said that FETÖ "collected donations amounting to TL 22 million ($6.16 million) in a year." The suspect, accused of leading FETÖ's activities in Konya, said in his testimony that they faced a drop in revenues after "Dec. 17-25" referring to the dates when FETÖ sought to topple the government in 2013.
