Justice Minister Akın Gürlek announced on Wednesday the capture of 33 out of 35 suspects for whom detention warrants were issued as a result of operations conducted across four separate investigations centered in Izmir, Eskişehir and Ağrı against the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) and Daesh.
In a statement made on his social media account, Gürlek stated that they will not tolerate any financial network, organizational activity or restructuring attempt of FETÖ. FETÖ has been on the decline after its attempt to seize power through military infiltrators on July 15, 2016, spectacularly failed. Yet, multiple operations conducted since then indicated that the group tapped into commerce and a secret scheme of donations to regain its former power.
"Today, as a result of joint efforts conducted by our police and gendarmerie organizations under the coordination of our Chief Public Prosecutor's Offices in Izmir, Eskişehir and Ağrı, four separate operations were carried out targeting the FETÖ and Daesh terrorist groups. As part of the operations, 33 out of a total of 35 wanted suspects were detained. One suspect is at large,” Gürlek said.
“In the investigations, significant findings were reached regarding FETÖ's financial connections extending abroad, money transfers carried out through companies, and its current structure."
Conveying that in the Eskişehir-centered investigation, money transfers were determined to have been made through a U.S.-based company affiliated with FETÖ in exchange for food products sent from Türkiye, Gürlek said: "It was evaluated that the transfers in question could be used in financing the restructuring of FETÖ. In the operation carried out against 10 suspects, nine suspects were caught and detained. Efforts to capture one suspect are ongoing."
Gürlek said two suspects were captured in an Izmir-based investigation, and the suspects were identified through their ties with now-defunct lender Bank Asya, once secretly operated by FETÖ, and through their use of Bylock, an encrypted messaging app exclusively used and developed by the members of the terrorist group.
Stating that in the other Izmir-centered investigation, operations were carried out in four provinces targeting 21 suspects evaluated to be active within FETÖ's current structure, Gürlek reported that all of the suspects were caught and detained.
