Dozens of suspects, including teachers, military officers and police officers, linked to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) were detained yesterday in nationwide operations.
According to government officials, the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in the capital Ankara issued detention warrants for 87 suspects of which 59 were detained when Daily Sabah went to print.
The operations targeted teachers and staff of the National Education Authority in Ankara, police officers who were promoted earlier with the assistance of fellow FETÖ members and officers serving in the Turkish Army's Land Forces Command.
Some police deputy inspectors are accused of rising up the ranks with the help of FETÖ members who supplied them questions and answers for a promotion exam in 2011.
The teachers captured in the operations were users of ByLock, an encrypted messaging app developed and exclusively used by FETÖ members. Three of them were still working at in the National Education Authority while two were retired and 13 others were previously dismissed from their jobs because of suspicions they are members of FETÖ.
Some of the military officers detained in the operations had outstanding warrants and 10 others were earlier dismissed for their suspected FETÖ links.
Another suspect wanted in the same case was a civilian who acted as an "imam," a term used for FETÖ handlers for terrorist group's infiltrators in the military and other sectors.
Wanted officers were identified after they contacted with their imam through payphones to avoid detection.
FETÖ planted its men and women in every state institution - from the army to law enforcement - for decades before it openly declared war against the state with two coup attempts in 2013. Disguised with code names, secretive correspondences and a distinct secular lifestyle worlds away from what FETÖ promotes as religious life, its members were easily able to infiltrate places they ultimately aimed to take over.
On July 15, 2016, the terrorist group tried another coup, using its military infiltrators. Approximately, 251 people were killed and hundreds of others were injured in the coup attempt that was thwarted thanks to a strong public resistance. Tens of thousands of people were detained or arrested in the aftermath of the coup attempt.
Authorities have been carrying out daily operations to capture FETÖ suspects since the attempt.
