Timeline Gulen movement/FETÖ December 2018

Dozens of FETÖ's secret members captured in nationwide operations

Some 140 people were detained yesterday in a new wave of nationwide operations against secret members of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) which is blamed for the July 15, 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.

Prosecutors in Istanbul, the capital Ankara and the central city of Konya issued 267 arrest warrants for suspects in separate investigations into the terrorist group which is entangled in a string of offense. Read the full article

Former member of HSK sentenced to 10 years for Gülen movement ‘membership

The Supreme Court of Appeals on Wednesday issued a final verdict for a former member of Turkey’s Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) and sentenced him to 10 years’ imprisonment for alleged membership in the Gülen movement, the T24 news website reported.

Former jurist Şaban Işık denied links to faith-based movement, which the government accuses of orchestrating a failed coup on July 15, 2016 and labels as a terrorist organization.

The 9th Penal Chamber of the appeals court announced the verdict, which shortened the sentence that was previously handed down by a different chamber of the court.

Former Bursa governor gets 6 years, 3 months on terror, coup charges

Şahabettin Harput, a former Turkish governor of the western province of Bursa, was sentenced to six years, three months in prison over alleged links to the Gülen movement, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Thursday.

The Bursa 8th High Criminal court convicted the former mayor on charges of membership in a terrorist organization but acquitted him of charges of a leadership role in a terrorist organization and violating a law on the financing of terrorism. The court also ruled to convert his house arrest to judicial supervision on the condition that he not leave the city until his appeal is heard by a higher court.

Turkey issues detention warrants for 128 more soldiers on coup involvement allegations

Turkish prosecutors on Friday issued detention warrants for 128 military members in İstanbul and Ankara, part of a crackdown on alleged members of the faith-based Gülen movement that has been ongoing since a failed coup in 2016.

The warrants allege that the soldiers made phone calls using pay phones, considered by the government to be a link to the movement within the military. Authorities believe the soldiers used pay phones for secret communications for fear that their cell phones might be tapped. As part of the detention operations, police raided the homes of the active duty soldiers.

Soldiers, prison guards detained in anti-FETÖ ops

In Istanbul, fellow gendarmerie troops arrested 40 members of the gendarmerie command of the city for their FETÖ links. Suspects were identified through their contacts with the terrorist group's non-military members via payphones and all were active-duty personnel. Investigators in Istanbul launched a probe into FETÖ's payphone scheme to contact military infiltrators last year and since then 3,313 soldiers were found to be linked to the terrorist group. Some 1,973 of them were directly involved in the 2016 coup attempt that killed 251 people and 1,128 of them were captured in earlier operations. More than 300 among them collaborated with authorities, helping identify more suspects.

In the capital Ankara, prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 87 former members of the Turkish Air Force and 41 were captured when Daily Sabah went to print late Friday. Operations were carried out all across the country to capture the suspects.

34 sentenced to life for Istanbul leg of FETÖ's coup attempt

A court in Istanbul handed down aggravated life sentences to 26 people and life sentences for eight others in a trial on the July 15, 2016 coup attempt blamed on the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).

Defendants in yesterday's hearing were military officers, cadets and conscripts who were involved in the takeover of a police station in Istanbul's Çengelköy district and attacks on civilians who took to the streets to confront the putschists.

A total of 114 defendants were on trial for the incidents in Çengelköy, at a nearby military school and in two other districts of Istanbul that killed eight people. The court acquitted 57 conscripts and seven cadets of any wrongdoing, ruling that they were not involved in killings and were forced to obey the orders of their superiors during the coup attempt. Fourteen police officers who collaborated with putschists were also handed down prison terms of up to 12 years. Read the full article

Turkey detains 696 people over alleged Gülen links past week

Turkish police detained 696 people between Dec. 3 and Dec. 10 as part of its post-coup crackdown targeting followers of the Gülen movement, according to a statement released by the Turkish Interior Ministry on Monday.

Since then, some 140,000 public servants have been dismissed by government decrees and more than 600,000 people investigated on terrorism charges.

An investigation into one of the most popular apps for members of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) identified over 92,000 users, officials say. Addressing a workshop on cybercrimes yesterday, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said a total of 92,702 individual users and 215,092 accounts used by FETÖ members were discovered. Read the full article

Arrest warrants out for 111 FETO suspects

Turkish prosecutors issued arrest warrants on Monday for some 111 people including active-duty soldiers across the country for their suspected links to Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup attempt. 

Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued the warrants for 64 suspects -- 55 non-commissioned officers including 35 on-duty soldiers -- within the Turkish Land Forces Command and the Gendarmerie General Command.  The other nine suspects are believed to be the terror group’s so-called civilian imams. The suspects are accused of communicating with the terror group through payphones.

Balikesir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office also issued arrest warrants in 14 provinces as well as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus for 27 suspects as part of a probe into FETO. They were also reportedly communicating with the terror group through payphones. 

In western Canakkale province, arrest warrants were issued for 20 FETO suspects as part of a probe into the terror group’s crypto structure within the Turkish Armed Forces. 

Turkey remands in custody 118 FETO-linked soldiers

An Istanbul court on Tuesday remanded in custody 118 suspects as part of a probe into the terror group's infiltration of the Turkish army.

The on-duty soldiers were remanded in custody for "being a member of an armed terrorist organization", said judicial sources who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

FETO leader's nephew sentenced to prison

A Turkish court on Tuesday handed down a prison term for the nephew of Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) over links to the group behind the July 2016 defeated coup.

Selman Gulen was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years behind bars on charges of armed terrorist organization membership.

Detention warrants issued for 49 ex-policemen over Gülen links

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday issued detention warrants for 49 former police officers as part of a crackdown targeting followers of the faith-based Gülen movement, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

Police raided houses in 13 provinces and detained 37 of the individuals being sought. According to a statement issued by the prosecutor’s office, 16 of the detainees were using ByLock, a smartphone application that Turkish authorities believe was used among members of the Gülen movement.

Thousands of FETÖ members sought asylum in EU countries in two years

More than 17,000 requests for asylum in EU countries from Turkey since October 2016 have been dominated by members of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), Turkish officials speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) said Friday.

Germany and Greece were among the top EU countries where suspected members of FETÖ, the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, sought asylum after the coup attempt, according to a Turkish official who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media. Read the full article

59 people sought by Turkish prosecutors over Gülen links, 30 detained

Turkish prosecutors on Friday sought 59 people, including military personnel, and have detained 30 of them thus far as part of a post-coup crackdown targeting the faith-based Gülen movement. The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued detention warrants for 39 people over Gülen links.

The police raided houses in 12 provinces and detained 14 people, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.The suspects were accused of using ByLock, a smartphone application that Turkish authorities believe was used among followers of the Gülen movement.

The Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on Friday also issued detention warrants for 20 people including nine active duty soldiers. The suspects were accused of secretly communicating via pay phone, a method that the Turkish prosecutors believe is a means of communicating with the Gülen movement.

The police detained 16 of them.

34 detained in nationwide operations against FETÖ

Turkish police detained 34 suspects, including military officers, in nationwide operations against the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) on Friday. It is the latest wave of operations against the group since Turkey managed to quell the July 15, 2016 coup attempt that killed 251 people. The attempt is blamed on military infiltrators of the terrorist group.

In Bursa, a city south of Istanbul, prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 38 people including active-duty and former military officers, from colonels and majors to noncommissioned officers. Twenty people were detained in operations in Bursa and 10 other cities.

In Istanbul, the Chief Prosecutor's Office issued arrest warrants for 39 suspects and 14 were detained when Daily Sabah went to print late Friday. The suspects captured in operations in 12 provinces were identified as FETÖ members for their use of ByLock, an encrypted messaging app exclusively used by the group.

Suspect accessed FETÖ app he ‘didn't use' 57,000 times

Halil İbrahim V., a senior member of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) on trial in northern Turkey, claimed that he did not use ByLock, an encrypted messaging app exclusively used by the terrorist group. However, digital evidence showed he actually accessed the app 57,000 times.

A former teacher, the suspect who was arrested in the northern Turkish province of Samsun in September, faces a prison term up to 15 years on charges of membership of a terrorist organization. Prosecutors say the suspect was an "imam" - a name given to FETÖ's point men - for the group's infiltrators in law enforcement.

Detention warrants issued for former military hospital doctors over Gülen links

The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday issued detention warrants for 24 former military surgeons and six others as part of a post-coup crackdown targeting followers of the faith-based Gülen movement, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

The police conducted operations in five provinces and detained 21 of those sought by the prosecutor. The military surgeons used to work at the now-closed Gülhane Military Medical Academy (GATA) in İstanbul.

Meanwhile, police in Edirne detained three people who were trying to flee Turkey to escape persecution. Two of them were servicemen who had been dismissed from the military, and one was the wife of another dismissed soldier who has been living abroad.

79 captured in operations targeting FETÖ-linked officers, civilians

Police captured 79 people in nationwide operations against the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) yesterday. The suspects were military infiltrators of the group blamed for the July 15, 2016 coup attempt and civilians secretly harboring ties with FETÖ.

In the western city of İzmir, the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office ordered arrests in two separate operations. In one operation, 23 suspects, mostly military officers, were arrested while the other operation netted 39 suspects accused of using ByLock, an encrypted messaging app exclusively used by the terrorist group

77 sentenced in Düzce over links to FETÖ

A court in northern Turkey's Düzce handed down prison terms of between one to 10 years to 77 defendants in a Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) trial on Friday.

The defendants were among 122 suspected members of the terrorist group's network in the city and included former police officers and teachers. Thirty-four other defendants were acquitted while 11 others will be tried separately.

15 military officers using pay phones arrested over alleged Gülen links

Nine active-duty and six former military officers who were detained along with five others last week as part of an operation against alleged followers of the Gülen movement were arrested on Thursday on terrorism charges, the Diken news website has reported.

Five military officers were released on judicial probation.

The military officers under arrest are accused of secretly communicating via pay phone, a method that Turkish prosecutors believe is a means of communicating with the Gülen movement.

The military officers were detained last week in simultaneous operations across 12 provinces as part of an investigation conducted by the Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.