Turkey remands eight suspects over FETÖ links

Eight suspects, including former police chiefs, have been remanded in custody over their links to Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, a Turkish court said on late Thursday.

The suspects were remanded in custody over a FETÖ plot related to calling MIT head Hakan Fidan and other MIT officials to bear testimony in 2012.

Among the suspects are former deputy Istanbul police commissioner Ali Fuat Yilmazer and ex-police chiefs Erol Demirhan, Yurt Atayun and Kazim Aksoy, according to the Istanbul court.

The suspects are accused of being members of a terrorist organization and trying to overthrow the government.

Today’s court order brought the number of suspects remanded in custody over the 2012 MIT incident to 14.

FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016 which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara also accuses FETÖ of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.