Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Tuesday that 156 suspects linked to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) were captured in operations in 30 provinces over the past two weeks.
Yerlikaya said in a social media post that operations were carried out in Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara, among other cities, and 65 detainees were remanded in custody, while 34 others were released with judicial control. Legal proceedings are underway for the remaining suspects.
Operations targeted the “current network” of the terrorist group, which strives to revive itself after a massive crackdown in the wake of the July 15, 2016 coup attempt its military infiltrators carried out. Yerlikaya said the suspects were identified through their contact with their handlers within the group through public payphones and were wanted for financing the group and disseminating pro-FETÖ propaganda online.
Along with the 2016 coup attempt, FETÖ is also accused 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 the terrorist group's 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 to be 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 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 its 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.
Those apprehended were mostly low-ranking members of the group, as high-ranking members managed to flee the country before and immediately after the coup attempt.
Still, security forces occasionally capture key figures who managed to remain in hiding, such as Cihat Yıldız. Yıldız, accused of helping the escape of Adil Öksüz, the civilian mastermind of the 2016 coup attempt, was captured during a police check last August in Istanbul.
Turkish security sources also say the group is in turmoil after the death of its leader, Fetullah Gülen, in October last year.
A power struggle between 12 members of FETÖ’s so-called executive board, based in Pennsylvania, has stoked widespread distrust among members.
FETÖ has amassed a considerable fortune through donations, as well as a colossal business and school network in Türkiye and around the world. With Gülen’s death, the seniors are eager to claim the unattended wealth, sources say.
