The Chief Prosecutor’s Office in the capital Ankara announced on Tuesday that arrest warrants were issued for 22 suspects accused of ties to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). The suspects are allegedly part of a secret network of FETÖ within the Land Forces branch of the Turkish army.
A statement by the office said warrants stemmed from an investigation into FETÖ’s “mahrem (secret) services” branch, which infiltrated the military. Suspects were communicating with each other and their “secret imams” through public pay phones in a bid to avoid detection. “Secret imam” is used to describe civilian handlers of FETÖ’s infiltrators in the law enforcement, army, etc., in the terrorist group’s jargon.
Among the wanted suspects are eight active-duty soldiers, six retired soldiers, four soldiers who were earlier expelled from the army on suspicion of links to the terrorist group, three public officials and a suspect who works in the private sector, prosecutors said. Operations were launched in Ankara and eight other provinces to capture the suspects.
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 a coup on July 15, 2016. The coup attempt spectacularly failed due to an unprecedented public resistance. Gülen died before his expected extradition from the United States, where he lived for years. In the aftermath of the coup attempt, Türkiye expanded its crackdown on the group, which was already underway after FETÖ members tried to overthrow the government in late 2013 through fabricated graft charges against government members.
In a speech at Parliament on Monday, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced that 1,395 suspects were arrested in operations against FETÖ between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31.
