Turkish prosecutors have issued arrest warrant for 63 active-duty military personnel over alleged links to ties with coup attempt in 2016.
On Friday, May 23, Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said that the suspects included four colonels belonging to gendarmerie, army, navy, and air force.
Early morning raids across the country resulted in 56 suspects being arrested.
They are allegedly tied to a prohibited entity that Turkey refers to as the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETO).
It’s leader, Fethullah Gulen, died in October last year in the United States, where he had lived since 1999 in self-imposed exile.
About Turkey’s 2016 coup attempt
Some 290 people were killed in July 2016 when rogue military units took to the streets of Ankara and Istanbul in an attempt to depose the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogen.
Along with that, jet fighters bombed the parliament building and presidential palace as Erdogan narrowly escaped assassination while vacationing on the west coast.
The incident was followed by tens of thousands arrest as school and media organisations tied to Gulen were shut down.
The prosecutor’s shared that the arrest were made after the military personnel were identified identified through telephone communications.
They also noted that FETO still posed the “greatest threat to the constitutional order and survival of the state.”
Notably, the failed coup attempt allowed Erdogan’s government to gain more power and control in Turkey, leading to increased authoritarian rule.
