Turkey seeks arrest of 120 suspected coup plotters
The arrest warrants were issued after an investigation including several testimonies led authorities to believe the suspects are linked to the alleged orchestrator of the July 2016 coup attempt Fetullah Gulen.
Paramilitary police and special force members escort outside the courthouse as nearly 500 suspects, including a number of generals and military pilots, accused of leading last year's failed coup attempt and carrying out attacks from an air base in Ankara, arrive for trial in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017.
Authorities in Turkey issued arrest warrants on Thursday for 120 people over suspected links to an illegal network behind a defeated coup attempt in July 2016, a security source said.
The Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Turkey's central Konya province said the warrants came as part of an investigation against the so called “secret imams” of the group, dubbed the Fetullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO), inside the military.
Fifty-eight out of 120 suspects, who were identified by the testimonies of former detainees, were found out to be using the smartphone messaging app, ByLock.
ByLock is an encrypted mobile phone application used by FETO members to communicate during and after the 2016 defeated coup.
Turkey accuses US-based leader Fetullah Gulen, the organisation's alleged head, of orchestrating the defeated coup attempt of July 15, 2016, which left 250 people dead and nearly 2,200 injured.
Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.
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