Twenty people, including ex-Turkish Air Force employees were arrested across Turkey over suspected links to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) Tuesday.

Police squads held simultaneous operations in seven provinces including Istanbul, İzmir and Diyarbakır, apprehending 15 suspects accused of communicating with FETÖ members. The raids came after Ankara prosecutors issued arrest warrants for the suspects, with operations currently ongoing. In a separate operation, five suspects accused of using the group's encrypted messaging application, ByLock, were arrested in seven provinces after the Istanbul Public Prosecutor's Office issued arrest warrants for 15 suspects.

Prosecutors also issued arrest warrants for 21 suspects as part of a probe into FETÖ's secret network in the country's universities.

Separately, prosecutors in the northwestern province of Balıkesir issued arrest warrants for 11 suspects, eight of them on-duty soldiers, as part of a probe into the terrorist group's presence in the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).