As part of counterterror operations following the deadly coup attempt in July 2016, prosecutors issued detention warrants for 360 Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ)-linked suspects Wednesday targeting the military, including top figures.
According to reports, an operation was launched based on warrants issued by the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in Istanbul after the discovery of new evidence.
The suspects include 333 soldiers and 27 FETÖ "imams," involved in the military structure.
FETÖ uses the code name "imam," an Islamic word that Muslims use to refer to a person leading the prayer, as a title for senior terror cult figures responsible for organizations and institutions, including law enforcement and the judiciary in specific countries.
Media reports noted that 216 of the suspects were soldiers actively serving in the military.
On July 15, 2016, a small military junta linked to FETÖ attempted to stage a coup to topple the democratically elected president and government in Turkey and impose martial law.
The attempt was prevented by military troops loyal to the government, along with police units and millions of Turkish citizens in favor of democracy.
In total, 250 people, consisting of mostly civilians, were killed by pro-coup soldiers, while over 2,000 others were injured.
The attempt was masterminded by Fetullah Gülen, who has lived in self-imposed exile on a 400-acre property in the foothills of the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania since 1999.
Following the coup attempt, thousands of people were detained, arrested and/or dismissed from their public sector jobs for links to the terrorist group.
Currently, nationwide trials are underway for hundreds of suspects, mostly military officers, involved in the putsch bid.
FETÖ is known for its widespread infiltration in judiciary, the military, law enforcement and bureaucracy. It openly declared a war against the Turkish state in 2013 when prosecutors, judges and police officers linked to the group tried to topple the government under the guise of two anti-graft probes targeting people close to the government.
Meanwhile, in a related development, a court in Istanbul sentenced Ali Görel, a former prosecutor who once served as chief inspector in the influential Higher Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), to eight years and nine months in prison for his ties to FETÖ.
Görel was dismissed from his job after the coup attempt and arrested. He was charged with membership of a terrorist group. The defendant was serving as a prosecutor in Istanbul before his arrest and he was relieved as chief inspector in 2014.
The HSYK, which oversees the assignment of judges and prosecutors, is among the key institutions FETÖ infiltrated and used to expand its clout. Official investigations show that the terrorist group exploited it to appoint its own members to critical trials.
One day after the coup attempt, detention warrants were issued for 2,745 judges after the HSYK dismissed them in an extraordinary meeting.
Three former senior members of the HSYK confessed last year after their detention that FETÖ decided the fate of their critics who were imprisoned on trumped-up charges by influencing the courts.
Testimonies have strongly indicated that the terrorist group, which is implicated in a string of crimes from illegal wiretapping to blackmail, controlled people who were not aligned with their views through the HSYK and built false cases against critics it found threatening.
