Turkey: 1,682 terror suspects detained last week

By Mehmet Tosun

ANKARA

Turkish security forces last week detained 1,682 people for their suspected links to terrorist organizations, the Interior Ministry announced Monday.

A ministry statement said that 1,096 suspected members of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) were detained on Dec. 19-26 and 426 of them were arrested.

FETO, led by U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen, is accused of organizing, planning, and staging the July 15 coup attempt in Turkey that martyred 248 people and injured more than 2,200 others.

Ankara has also said FETO is behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.

PKK

According to Monday’s statement, Turkish security forces carried out 220 anti-terror raids across the country last week.

A total of 508 PKK suspects were also detained in the same period, while 78 of them were arrested by the authority, the statement said.

In anti-terror operations, Turkish forces killed four terrorists and captured five others after serious encounters.

Several shelters, barracks, and caves along with a huge number of explosives of the terror groups were also destroyed.

A large amount of weapons and ammunition was also confiscated during the operations, the ministry said.

Moreover, forces arrested 390 people for financing terror groups while seizing heroin and other illegal drugs, smuggled cigarettes, oil, and millions of bank notes.

The PKK, listed as a terror group by Turkey, the U.S., and EU, has been conducting an armed campaign in southeastern Turkey for more than three decades, killing around 40,000 people.

Daesh

The ministry added that 78 Daesh suspects were detained under counter-terrorism operations and 12 of them were arrested.

In their fight against illegal migrants, Turkish forces captured 1,960 people ahead of their attempting to cross the Turkish border illegally.

Twenty-nine people were also detained – 13 of them were arrested – for organizing human smuggling, the statement added.