Forty of the Gülenist Terror Group’s (FETÖ) current structure out of 53 suspects caught were arrested, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Wednesday.
The minister announced on social media that gendarmerie teams had apprehended 53 suspects operating within the current structure of FETÖ. These suspects continued to communicate with individuals inside the organization through pay phones, provided funding to so-called aid organizations and shared FETÖ propaganda on social media.
Yerlikaya also added that a high number of documents and digital material of the terrorist organization were seized during operations that lasted two weeks and were carried out in Ankara, Antalya, Bursa, Diyarbakır, Edirne, Hatay, Istanbul, Izmir, Kocaeli, Kütahya, Manisa, Mersin, Muğla, Samsun, Sivas, Şanlıurfa, Tekirdağ, Tokat and Uşak.
He vowed that Türkiye would continue to fight “those who target our state’s integrity and people’s peace.”
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.
Those apprehended mainly were low-ranking members of the group, as high-ranking members managed to flee the country before and immediately after the coup attempt.
