Turkish courts hand jail terms to 51 over FETÖ links

Two separate courts in Turkey sentenced 51 people on Friday for being members of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), the group behind last year's defeated coup, according to a security source.

The 2nd High Criminal Court in the central Eskişehir province handed jail terms for up to seven years to 46 dismissed security personnel.

A high criminal court in the central province of Sivas sentenced five people for up to 10 years in jail for being FETÖ members and using ByLock, an encrypted smartphone messaging app used by the group to communicate during and after the defeated coup attempt.

FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gülen orchestrated the defeated coup attempt of July 15, 2016, which left 250 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.