Twenty suspects were detained in operations against the Gülenist Terror Group’s (FETÖ) secret military network on Monday.
Operations were centered in the central province of Konya and conducted in eight other provinces as well. They were the culmination of an investigation by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Konya. Five people wanted by authorities remain at large. Security sources said suspects were captured in operations in Ankara, Kırıkkale, Izmir, Manisa, Istanbul, Kocaeli, Erzurum and Karaman.
The terrorist group orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, in Türkiye, in which 252 people were killed and 2,734 were wounded. Ankara also accuses FETÖ of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.
Türkiye has targeted its active members and sleeper cells nonstop, and its influence has been much reduced since 2016. However, the group maintains a vast network, including infiltrators suspected of still operating within Turkish institutions.
FETÖ backers in army ranks and civil institutions have disguised their loyalty, as operations and investigations have indicated since the 2016 coup attempt. FETÖ is also implicated in a string of cases related to its alleged plots to imprison its critics, money laundering, fraud and forgery.
The terrorist group faces operations almost daily as investigators still try to unravel their massive network of infiltrators everywhere. In 2024 alone, police apprehended hundreds of FETÖ suspects across the country, including fugitives on western borders trying to flee to Europe.
