Authorities uncover alleged plot linked to Ergenekon trials as prosecutors widen probe into Air Force, exam fraud operations.

By Abdullahi Yusuf

Turkish authorities have detained six suspects as part of an investigation into allegations that the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) orchestrated a plot during the controversial Ergenekon trials, announced on Tuesday.

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched the probe after evidence emerged suggesting that senior FETÖ members, who allegedly served as so-called “imams,” played a role in fabricating the 2007 Umraniye hand grenade incident that triggered the Ergenekon investigations.

The investigation revealed that two suspects, identified as the group’s “police imam” and “intelligence imam,” were apprehended with coded lists of individuals slated for detention as part of the Ergenekon probe, while attempting to flee abroad.

In the latest forensic examination of the box containing the hand grenades seized in the operation, crime scene investigators found that a fingerprint matched that of a person who, at the time of the operation, held the rank of gendarmerie intelligence officer who is currently imprisoned for links to FETÖ.

Authorities also found inconsistencies between previous and current expert reports on the seized digital materials.

Following these findings, the prosecutor’s office issued detention warrants for nine suspects. Operations were carried out across Istanbul, Trabzon, Balıkesir and Eskişehir provinces, leading to the arrest of six individuals. One suspect was already in prison, while two others were found to be abroad.

Security forces also seized 130 rounds of ammunition during the raids.

On the other hand, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has issued detention warrants for 29 suspects in two separate investigations into the FETÖ targeting the group’s secret network within the Turkish Air Force Command and its wide-scale exam fraud operations.

According to a statement from the prosecutor’s office, the Bureau of Terror Crimes launched an investigation into 16 individuals determined to be connected with FETÖ’s infiltration into the Air Force Command. It was found that the suspects had used payphones at kiosks, grocery stores and small markets across Ankara to communicate with the group’s so-called “mahrem” (secretive) imams.

The investigation resulted in warrants for five active-duty officers, five dismissed personnel and six civilians identified as secret imams.

Operations to detain the suspects simultaneously across eight provinces centered in Ankara are being carried out by teams from the Ankara Police Department.

In a separate probe against the FETÖ group, prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 13 individuals accused of leaking questions for the 2010 Public Personnel Selection Exam (KPSS) and the 2008 and 2011 judicial exams to group members. The Bureau of Terror Crimes determined that questions were obtained before the exams and spread to organization members through a coordinated cheating scheme, while some were identified as users of the group’s encrypted messaging app, ByLock.

Authorities identified several suspects who had lived in FETÖ-run “study houses” that prepared followers for public exams, while some were identified as users of the group’s encrypted messaging app, ByLock, which was used to maintain secrecy within the network.

Operations to apprehend the suspects are ongoing, and Turkish authorities are proceeding with nationwide efforts to dismantle what remains of FETÖ’s clandestine structures in institutions.

Source: Daily Sabah