Nineteen suspects were detained on Monday in operations against the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). Authorities said the suspects were linked to the group’s secret network in the military.

Operations were part of an investigation by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office in the central province of Konya. Suspects were apprehended in operations in Konya and 12 other provinces. Eight other suspects remain at large.

FETÖ thrived thanks to its widespread infiltration into key public institutions for decades. The terrorist group’s members managed to disguise themselves through secretive communication methods and by conspiring against those who detected their infiltration, through blackmail, sham trials organized by prosecutors linked to the group and other methods. Once he believed he had a sizable number of military infiltrators, the group’s leader, Fetullah Gülen, ordered them to stage another coup attempt on July 15, 2016. The coup attempt, this time carried out by military infiltrators of the group, spectacularly failed due to an unprecedented public resistance. Gülen died in 2024 before his expected extradition from the U.S., where he lived for years. In the aftermath of the coup attempt, Türkiye expanded its crackdown on the group.