At least 38 suspects have been arrested across Turkey on Tuesday over suspected links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), according to security officials.
FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup attempt of July 15, 2016, which left 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.
In northern Samsun province, 13 people were arrested for using FETO’s encrypted smartphone messaging application ByLock, an official, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on talking to the media, told Anadolu Agency.
The app is believed to have been cracked by Turkish security agencies, allowing them to identify tens of thousands of FETO supporters within the context of last year's defeated coup attempt.
Six people -- some of them spouses of ex-police officers -- were caught after they were found to have used Bylock app, as part of probe launched by Zonguldak Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Also, ten people accused of using the app were caught as part of an investigation launched by eastern Elazig’s Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
A former deputy tax inspector, whose arrest warrant was issued by Izmir prosecutor’s office, has been caught after he got involved in a traffic accident.
Nine suspects -- including a farmer, a teacher and a student -- were arrested in an operation in the Aegean province of Kutahya.
Separately, six members of the terrorist organization, who were attempting to cross into Bulgaria from Edirne province, were arrested along with three Bulgarian citizens, who were accused of helping them.
In another operation in northwestern Kocaeli, five on-duty soldiers were arrested. Later on Tuesday, 15 more suspects in Kocaeli were caught for links to the terrorist organization.
Meanwhile, the Ministry for Family and Social Policy shut down FETO-linked 45 preschools across Turkey.
In the Black Sea province of Kastamonu, a former police officer was sentenced to six years and three months in prison for using ByLock and “being member of a terrorist organization” by a high criminal court.
The 28th High Criminal Court in Istanbul convicted Oguz Guven, the editor-in-chief of cumhuriyet.com.tr, who was arrested on May 12.
Guven, who was accused of making terrorist propaganda, and disseminating terrorist publications, was sentenced to three years and one month in prison.
Eastern Agri’s 2nd High Criminal Court handed a sentence of 10 years and six months in prison to a former teacher convicted of using the ByLock app, participating in FETO activities and owning an account in Bank Asya -- a participation bank affiliated with Gulen.
