Middle East Monitor
Monday July 2, 2018
Turkish security forces on 21 September 2016 [REUTERS/Umit Bektas]
Ten Somali students were arrested
inTurkey’s southern Mersin province over alleged links to the
Fethullahist Terror Organisation (FETO), the group suspected to be
behind the coup attempt in 2016, Garowe Online reported yesterday.
The students were arrested alongside six
others – three from Djibouti, two from Guinea and one from Syria – in a
string of counter-terrorism raids executed by the Turkish authorities.
Seven other suspects are still at large. The students were studying at
Mersin University, but no other information is known about them.
Some 41 other suspects, including on-duty
Turkish soldiers ,were arrested over the same alleged links to FETO. The
arrests come as the Kirikkale Public Prosector’s Office issued an
arrest warrant for the soldiers. The counter-terrorism operation took
place across 13 provinces, including Bursa, Sirnak and Kayseri.
Turkish authorities believe FETO’s leader
Fetullah Gulen directed the defeated coup in July 2016, where 251 people
were killed and some 2,200 were injured. The Turkish government led by
Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses the group of attempting to infiltrate
government institutions, including the police, military and judiciary to
overthrow the state.
Last week, Erdogan won more than half the votes in Turkey’s presidential election.