Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told Anadolu Agency (AA) on the July 15, 2016 coup attempt anniversary that his ministry expelled more than 45,000 personnel for suspected links to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) since the attempt perpetrated by FETÖ’s military infiltrators.
“The state is always vigilant. We will not allow any terrorist network to threaten public order,” Yerlikaya said on Tuesday.
Turkish police and military officers opposing the putsch were at the forefront of resistance against the coup attempt. Yet, law enforcement was also targeted by heavy infiltration by FETÖ, as evidenced in the 2013 coup attempts against the government carried out under the guise of graft probes by pro-FETÖ police chiefs.
Yerlikaya said 45,229 people were dismissed from the Interior Ministry since July 2016 for links to FETÖ, including 33,534 from the Turkish National Police, 8,456 from the Gendarmerie Command, and 640 from the Coast Guard Command. Yerlikaya noted that 569 governors and deputy governors, as well as 1,358 officials from provincial administrations and 672 staff members of the Interior Ministry’s provincial agencies, were also expelled.
“These numbers lay bare the structural threat posed by FETÖ,” he said. Yerlikaya said that since 2016, 390,322 suspects have been taken into custody in operations against the terrorist group. Some 113,844 among them have been formally arrested, while 118,822 others were released under judicial control.
“Even after their ringleader died, we did not loosen our grip (on FETÖ),” Yerlikaya asserted, referring to Fetullah Gülen, who died in the United States in October 2024.
Yerlikaya stressed that authorities track the group’s “crypto cells, digital communication networks and illicit financial routes” in real time through integrated cyber, intelligence and financial crime units. “No terrorist network will be allowed to threaten public order. Every network lurking in the dark will be dragged into the light,” he pledged.
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