Turkish security forces detained 48 people, including a former footballer for Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe, in a new round of operations against the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) on Thursday.
In one operation in Istanbul, Zafer Biryol was detained in a house he was hiding out in the city’s Büyükçekmece district where a football school bearing his name is located. Biryol was released pending trial in a case involving FETÖ after his initial arrest in 2017. He was convicted of FETÖ membership and an appeals court upheld his conviction which bore a prison term of six years and three months in July. He was among a group of footballers tried for their ties to the terrorist group. The appeals court had overturned verdicts for Bekir Irtegün, Uğur Boral and Ömer Çatkıç, citing their collaboration with authorities in investigations should grant them lenient sentences. Biryol, on the other hand, was “insincere” in his statements during the trial, according to the appeals court.
Biryol was accused of membership with the terrorist group based upon evidence that he actively joined meetings of FETÖ members and used Bylock, an encrypted messaging app developed and exclusively used by the terrorist group. He was also among visitors of FETÖ leader Fetullah Gülen in his residence in the United States, according to prosecutors.
Elsewhere, police detained 47 FETÖ suspects in operations in Istanbul and three other provinces. The operation was carried out by anti-smuggling and organized crime units of the police and targeted the “financial network” of the terrorist group. Four other suspects remain at large. Police found a large cache of cash, from Turkish liras to dollars and euros, in raids in several locations. Suspects are accused of financing the activities of the terrorist group which seeks revival after a string of operations in the past six years dealt a heavy blow to its clout in Türkiye.
The terrorist group faced heightened scrutiny in the wake of the July 15, 2016 coup attempt carried out by its infiltrators in the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). Although most military officers who took part in the coup bid were sentenced, the "civilian" members of FETÖ remain more elusive. Only a few were caught red-handed during the attempt, including executives and staff of a FETÖ-linked company who were apparently helping the putschists since they were caught at the Akıncı base when the attempt was quelled.
