Feature
Ten Somali students arrested in Turkey over role in failed coup
The ten Somali students were arrested on Sunday, (Courtesy)
ANKARA—Ten Somali students were arrested in Turkey’s southern Mersin province over alleged links to the Fethullahist Terror Organisation (FETO), the group suspected to be behind the coup attempt in 2016.
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.
The suspects were detained after police reportedly raided 10 of group’s cell houses.
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.
Separately, at least 29 suspects, including on-duty soldiers, were detained across Turkey for their alleged links to FETO, the agency reported on June 30, citing police sources.
Thirteen on-duty soldiers were detained in simultaneous operations conducted in nine provinces, including the capital Ankara, and the central Kirikkale and eastern Diyarbakır provinces, the agency quoted the unnamed sources as saying.
Last week, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan won more than half the votes in presidential election after 97.2 percent of votes have been counted, the head of Turkey’s High Electoral Board (YSK) said.
“The pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) had passed the 10 percent threshold needed to enter parliament,” Sadi Guven, head of the Election Commission said.
Ankara also accuses the Gülen network of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.
