Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's office released the information and latest details on the Fetullah Terrorist Organization, or FETÖ's, foreign organization, as the probe regarding the July 15 coup bid continues.
As many as 237 soldiers, including some generals, admirals and other high-ranked soldiers, among 462 Turkish officers serving at NATO facilities abroad are reportedly included in the FETÖ probe, according to the Bureau of Probes into Crimes against Constitutional Order. Accordingly, procedural and administrative acts have been launched against them.
Previously the prosecutor's office issued warrants for the arrest of 189 NATO officers, but only 18 of them were located and arrested.
Meanwhile, the prosecutor's office took action yesterday to capture 38 people, who were once assigned to working in military bases in Holland, Italia and Belgium. However, only 1 of them could be found, the 37 others were not at their addresses.
By dismissing FETÖ suspects who were performing duties at NATO bases abroad following the failed coup of July 15, Ankara issued an order for them to return. But a minimum of 200 out of 237 suspects did not obey, some FETÖ-linked officers refused to return due to health conditions, and some others filed asylum requests in the NATO countries where they were on duty.
Three FETÖ-linked officers assigned to NATO bases hold the rack of general or admiral. Rear Admiral Mustafa Zeki Uğurlu, serving in the U.S.A., and Brigadier General Numan Yediyıldız, operating in South-Eastern Europe Brigade (SEEBRIG), were dismissed. Aside from these suspects, there are scores of officers with colonel and lieutenant colonel ranks.
Some 17 suspects out of the 237 were spotted as users of the ByLock app. which was used among FETÖ members to communicate among each other. Their names are also listed with the most frequent ByLock users.
Wives of 58 suspects were entangled in the 2010 Public Personnel Selection Examination (KPSS) fraud probe. Within the context of the probe, around 400 soldiers' wives in total were detected to be “suspects".
Mostly, FETÖ-linked officers were concentrated at NATO bases in the U.S.A., Germany, Italy, Belgium and Holland.
FETÖ terrorists are led by U.S.-based Fetullah Gülen, who orchestrated Turkey's July 15 coup plot and is the mastermind behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.
