Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Tuesday that 77 suspects linked to Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) were detained in two weeks of operations in 26 provinces. Yerlikaya said in a social media post that operations were held in Istanbul, Izmir and Antalya provinces, among other,s and focused on FETÖ suspects involved in FETÖ propaganda on social media.
He said some suspects were involved in financing what they called “charities” that served as front associations to funnel money into the terrorist group. They were deciphered through their contacts with fellow FETÖ members through public payphones, a common communication method between members of the terrorist group.
Yerlikaya added that 56 among captured suspects were remanded in custody while legal proceedings were underway for 21 others.
FETÖ still has backers in army ranks and civil institutions but they managed to disguise their loyalty, as operations and investigations since the July 15, 2016 coup attempt have indicated.
The group faced increased scrutiny following the coup attempt by its military infiltrators that killed 251 people and injured nearly 2,200 others. Tens of thousands of people were detained, arrested or dismissed from public sector jobs following the attempt under a state of emergency.
Hundreds of investigations launched after the attempt sped up the collapse of the group’s far-reaching network in the country.
“With the latest operations, we can see the organization is still attempting to infiltrate various institutions,” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said last month. “We have never been and never will be overcome by languor about this.”
The terrorist group faces operations almost daily as investigators still try to unravel their massive network of infiltrators everywhere, but an unknown number of FETÖ members, mostly high-ranking figures, fled Türkiye when the coup attempt was thwarted.
Erdoğan also hit out at past attempts to “twist” his government’s statements to highlight the threat of FETÖ. “But we were always ultimately proven right,” he said. He assured authorities would root out the remaining FETÖ infiltrators in Turkish institutions, citing the “meticulous work of police and intelligence units.” “Our struggle against FETÖ will triumph because the threat was not limited to the night of July 15,” Erdoğan said. “The enemy never sleeps, and neither do we.”
