Turkish authorities arrested 25 suspects in nationwide operations targeting the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said Thursday.
Security forces carried out raids in 21 provinces over the past 10 days, apprehending 41 people linked to the group.
The minister said suspects were detained for allegedly operating within FETÖ’s current network in Türkiye, including the information technology sector, maintaining contact with senior figures, and hiding in so-called “Gaybubet houses,” or safe houses.
Judicial control measures were imposed on seven suspects while proceedings for the others are ongoing, Yerlikaya said in a statement on social media.
He emphasized that the operations also targeted individuals with finalized prison sentences and outstanding arrest warrants, noting that names surfaced through witness statements and identifications in ongoing probes.
“I congratulate our governors, prosecutors, intelligence officers and police for their efforts,” Yerlikaya said. “We continue our fight with determination against those who threaten the unity of our nation, the integrity of our state, and the peace of our citizens.”
FETÖ is behind the defeated coup attempt, in which 252 people were killed and 2,734 were wounded.
Along with the 2016 coup attempt, FETÖ is also accused 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 the terrorist group's 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 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.
