Turkish authorities issued detention warrants Wednesday for 10 suspects accused of ties to the Gülenist Terrorist Group (FETÖ) as part of an investigation into the group’s infiltration of the Naval Forces Command.
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said the Terrorist Crimes Investigation Bureau is probing suspects linked to FETÖ’s so-called “confidential services” network that allegedly embedded operatives within the military.
Investigators said the suspects maintained secret contact with the group’s “civilian imams” through prepaid landlines registered to small businesses, including kiosks and grocery stores in the capital.
The warrants cover one active-duty officer and nine former personnel dismissed from service. Police operations to detain the suspects were launched simultaneously in three provinces, coordinated from Ankara, officials said.
FETÖ, led by U.S.-based cleric Fetullah Gülen who died last October, orchestrated the July 15, 2016 coup attempt in Türkiye that killed 252 people and injured nearly 2,700.
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.
