Turkish authorities detained 151 suspects during coordinated operations targeting the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) across 46 provinces, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Wednesday.
In a statement shared on social media, Yerlikaya said the operations were carried out simultaneously under the coordination of the National Police’s counterterrorism, organized crime and intelligence units. He said 82 of the suspects were formally arrested by courts, while 54 others were released under judicial control.
Legal procedures for the remaining suspects are ongoing.
Yerlikaya noted the operations focused on individuals accused of involvement in FETÖ’s so-called confidential structures, including judicial, military, education and student networks. Authorities said some of the suspects were previously convicted or wanted by courts, while others were accused of using the encrypted messaging application “ByLock” or communicating through pay phones with senior figures, and hiding in so-called “Gaybubet houses.”
These are used as safe houses by wanted FETÖ members who often forge IDs and rarely step out to avoid capture. Gaybubet means "absence" in FETÖ jargon, and they are used by the terrorist group to hide its followers who are being sought for several crimes since 2013, the year when its infiltrators in the police and judiciary sought to seize power in two disguised coup attempts targeting the government.
The raids were conducted in provinces including Ankara, Istanbul, Balıkesir, Kocaeli, Samsun, Malatya and Tekirdağ, among others, officials said.
Praising the teams that contributed to the operations, Yerlikaya emphasized that Ankara would continue its fight against the organization to protect national unity, state security and public order.
FETÖ is responsible for the failed coup attempt in 2016, and Ankara has carried out large-scale operations against the group for years.
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 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.
