Turkish security forces detained 20 suspects in an Istanbul-based operation across six provinces targeting the police infiltration network of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), authorities said Friday.
The operation was carried out by the Istanbul Police Department’s Anti-Smuggling Crimes Branch under the coordination of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office as part of an investigation into the terrorist group.
Investigators identified 20 suspects whose records appeared in an SD card obtained from a secret witness codenamed “Garson” ("Waiter") according to authorities. The card contained data from the Police Infiltration Analysis Report (EMAR), which investigators have used in probes into FETÖ’s covert structure within law enforcement.
Authorities said the suspects were found to have links to members of the group’s covert networks, accounts or increased deposits at the now-defunct Bank Asya and records of sequential phone calls, a method associated with FETÖ’s clandestine communication network.
Investigators determined that the suspects allegedly operated at supervisory levels within FETÖ’s covert police network.
Police launched simultaneous raids at 21 addresses across six provinces, with Istanbul as the center of the operation.
All 20 suspects including five active public employees, three dismissed public employees and 12 private-sector workers were detained in the raids.
Codenamed “Garson,” the former member of the group behind the 2016 coup attempt, delivered an encrypted database of the group to authorities in 2017 after he agreed to be a “secret witness” in investigations against the terrorist group. The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) deciphered the database in six years and discovered 3,000 infiltrators of FETÖ within the Turkish National Police.
Statements of “Garson” indicated that FETÖ maintained surveillance on 320,000 members of the police force for 16 years, up until its notorious first attempt to topple the government in December 2013. Encrypted lists of police officers showed each was assigned a code based on their links to FETÖ or his/her opposition to the group’s infiltration.
Speaking about the lists, "Garson" told investigators that they were created by the group’s handlers of infiltrators within law enforcement and they were regularly presented to FETÖ leadership, to give insight about the scope of their infiltration. The lists contained all details about officers in terms of their affiliation with the group and rate them on their “loyalty.”
The terrorist group faced more investigations following the coup attempt that killed 251 people and injured nearly 2,200 others. Tens of thousands of people were detained, arrested or dismissed from public sector jobs following the attempt under a state of emergency.
