Turkish authorities detained 93 tax inspectors in raids across 11 provinces as part of an investigation into the Gülenist Terrorist Group (FETÖ), prosecutors said Friday.
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said the operation was carried out under the direction of its Terror Crimes Investigation Bureau, with police counterterrorism units conducting coordinated raids targeting suspects accused of involvement in the group’s activities.
According to a statement from prosecutors, investigators determined that the suspects used pay phones and a prepaid card-based communication system allegedly employed by the organization as a covert method of communication.
Authorities said statements from informants indicated that the suspects had taken part in the group’s activities. The investigation targeted 94 tax inspectors, including both active personnel within the Treasury and Finance Ministry and others previously dismissed from public service.
Police detained 93 suspects during the operation, while one individual was found to be abroad, the statement said.
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 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 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 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 of the group 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 in August in Istanbul.
Turkish security sources also say the group is in turmoil after the death of its leader, Fetullah Gülen, in October 2024.
