Senior FETÖ figure captured in Indonesia, deported to Turkey


Hakan İslamoğlu, an Indonesia representative of a business conglomerate run by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), was detained in the Asian country and deported to Turkey where he has been remanded into custody.

He is the second senior FETÖ suspect to be extradited from an Asian country after Pakistan deported Mesut Kaçmaz, another high-profile FETÖ suspect, to Turkey earlier this week.

İslamoğlu is also accused of running the terrorist group's local network in Indonesia. He represented the interests of Kaynak Holding in the country, as well. Kaynak, whose assets were seized last year by the authorities, was the main financier of FETÖ's illegal activities, which long posed as a religious charity to attract followers. A Kaynak executive is in prison on charges of conspiring to seize power on behalf of FETÖ with the aid of the group's infiltrators in the military.

The suspect is currently being questioned by police. Security sources say he was working with Kemal Batmaz and Harun Biniş at Kaynak Holding and was stationed in Istanbul between 2004 and 2007 before his appointment to Indonesia. Batmaz is the abovementioned executive and along with Biniş, an engineer, was captured at Akıncı Air Base, the command center of the July 15, 2016 coup attempt in the capital Ankara, after the insurrection was quelled.

FETÖ is accused of orchestrating multiple coup attempts in Turkey, and its members face terror charges. The group runs a global network of schools and companies spanning the U.S. to Asia. Turkey has renewed efforts to extradite FETÖ suspects from abroad following last year's coup attempt. In May, Malaysia deported three suspects linked to the terrorist group.

High-ranking members of the terrorist group, including its leader Fetullah Gülen, were already abroad, while those in the lower ranks fled the country after it failed at the brutal putsch bid. The Interpol liaison office of the Turkish police is spearheading efforts to bring back FETÖ members from abroad.

The cross-border fight against FETÖ involves efforts by the Foreign and Justice ministries in cooperation with police and intelligence services. The ministries have pursued intense diplomatic efforts, presenting evidence of the terrorist group's involvement in the coup attempt.

Ankara vowed to bring every FETÖ suspect to justice in the aftermath of the coup attempt that laid bare just how desperate the terrorist group was to seize power in the face of a crackdown against it.