Twenty-two out of 37 wanted suspects were detained on Tuesday in operations against the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).
The suspects were apprehended as part of an investigation by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office in the capital Ankara about a network of companies linked to the terrorist group that was behind a 2016 coup attempt.
The suspects are accused of funding the group. They were identified through statements of former FETÖ members who collaborated with authorities, financial investigations and investigations of digital evidence seized in previous investigations. Authorities said suspects supplied cash both to FETÖ members imprisoned for their links to the group and their families, through couriers. Among the suspects were members of the group who were expelled from public sector jobs on suspicion of links to FETÖ. A manhunt is underway to capture the remaining suspects.
FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gülen orchestrated the defeated coup on July 15, 2016, which left 251 people dead and thousands more injured. Gülen died in Pennsylvania, U.S. in October 2024.
The terrorist group, which had infiltrators in law enforcement, the judiciary and the bureaucracy, still has backers in the army ranks and civil institutions, though they managed to disguise their loyalty, as operations and investigations since the coup attempt have indicated.
Hundreds of investigations launched after the attempt sped up the collapse of the group’s far-reaching network in the country. FETÖ was already under the spotlight following two separate attempts to overthrow the government in 2013 through its infiltrators in the judiciary and law enforcement.