Politics
Turkish police arrest 13 over funding of FETÖ terrorists
Turkish authorities on Friday said some 13 out of 34 suspects captured over their links to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) were arrested.
Police caught 41 suspects in synchronized raids across five cities, including in Istanbul and western Izmir province, earlier this week. Seven other suspects fled abroad, police said.
Authorities released four suspects on probation and let 21 others go after their questioning.
The suspects are charged with tax evasion and using a sweets shop as a front to funnel funds to the terrorist group. They issued dummy invoices for commercial transactions at the shop to evade state taxes and transfer the money to FETÖ, authorities found.
The shop, which did not hire anyone with an apparent connection to FETÖ, provided the group with financing under the guise of “benevolence” by making deductions from employee wages.
Authorities also discovered organizational meetings were held at the shop.
A branch of the sweets shop in Izmir’s Bayraklı district was raided last year in December on suspicion of FETÖ-linked activity. Authorities had found the business was used as a “cell house” for the terrorist group and generated TL 40 million ($1.02 million) in funding for FETÖ.
The terrorist group orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, in Türkiye, in which 252 people were killed and 2,734 were wounded. Ankara also accuses FETÖ of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.
Türkiye has targeted its active members and sleeper cells nonstop, and its influence has been much reduced since 2016. However, the group maintains a vast network, including infiltrators suspected of still operating within Turkish institutions.
FETÖ backers in army ranks and civil institutions have disguised their loyalty, as operations and investigations have indicated since the 2016 coup attempt. FETÖ is also implicated in a string of cases related to its alleged plots to imprison its critics, money laundering, fraud and forgery.
The terrorist group faces operations almost daily as investigators still try to unravel their massive network of infiltrators everywhere. In 2024 alone, police apprehended hundreds of FETÖ suspects across the country, including fugitives on western borders trying to flee to Europe.
Those apprehended were mostly low-ranking members of the group, as high-ranking members managed to flee the country before and immediately after the coup attempt.
Turkish security sources also say the group is in turmoil after the death of its leader, Fetullah Gülen, in October last year.
A Turkish court has ordered the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul’s Adalar district and several senior municipal officials as part of a corruption investigation alleging that municipal authorities solicited payments from institutions and individuals in exchange for permits and administrative approvals.
The investigation, conducted by the Istanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, centers on allegations that officials from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP)-run Adalar Municipality demanded money in return for occupancy permits and other municipal procedures.
According to the Sabah newspaper report, municipal officials allegedly collected nearly TL 3 million ($65,000) from representatives of a Greek Orthodox foundation on Büyükada, despite the institution’s legal exemption from such fees.
Prosecutors allege that Deputy Mayor Hüseyin Yılmaz pressured foundation representative Vasil Poridis to make payments related to an occupancy permit, arguing that the municipality needed funds. Wiretap records included in the case file allegedly show discussions between Yılmaz and Mayor Ali Ercan Akpolat regarding the collection of the payments.
The investigation claims that the payments were made in several installments. One intercepted conversation dated Jan. 26, 2026, allegedly references the receipt of TL 1.68 million in cash. Prosecutors say additional payments were later requested.
Authorities also allege that municipal officials monitored the permit process and linked its progress to the collection of funds. The prosecutor’s assessment states that an institution legally exempt from municipal fees was allegedly compelled to make payments under the guise of permit charges, providing financial benefit to senior municipal officials.
The case file further alleges that municipal authorities examined similar permit-related matters involving other religious institutions in the district, including the historic Halki Seminary on Heybeliada.
Last week, police detained 42 suspects, including Akpolat and Deputy Mayors Hüseyin Yılmaz and Fırat Durak. The operation targeted 90 locations across four provinces.
Following questioning, 39 suspects were referred to court while three were released. The court later ordered the arrest of 35 suspects, including Akpolat and the two deputy mayors. Four others were released under judicial supervision pending trial.
A draft report prepared by a parliamentary committee on the prevention of juvenile crime was recently wrapped up and includes diverse suggestions to authorities.
In 2025, Parliament set up the Committee on Children Driven to Crime, a legal term for underage individuals committing crimes, after several murders of children committed by their peers grabbed headlines, along with the rise of criminal gangs recruiting minors as hitmen.
The report proposes a myriad of measures to curb the disturbing phenomenon. Among them are screening programs among preschoolers and primary school students to assess their mental health and social factors affecting their upbringing. Other proposals include broader surveillance of schools and legal amendments for minors involved in crimes to ensure “social justice.”
The draft report will be presented to Parliament’s presidency after more input by lawmakers. The report is composed of six chapters and 691 pages. In an introduction to the report, the committee’s chair, Müşerref Pervin Tuba Durgut, said the issue was tackled by the committee not as a mere judiciary matter but a multi-layered phenomenon affecting society. Durgut said they assessed risk factors driving children to commit crimes within a wide scope of interactions, from the impact of families, schools and peers to neighborhood ties, the digital world and public policies.
For months, the committee heard academics, experts and those affected by crimes committed by children driven into crime and made field visits.
Explaining that a cross-sectional study was also carried out with 610 children selected via stratified random sampling from 4,989 children in juvenile closed penal institutions and juvenile education houses, Durgut said they examined the risk factors the children were exposed to.
“The findings obtained from these studies have clearly demonstrated the need for inter-agency coordination, the importance of early intervention mechanisms, the dissemination of best practices developed at the local level, and the necessity of holistic policies that center the child in crime prevention. The committee’s work has contributed to understanding the multi-dimensional structure of juvenile delinquency and has revealed the importance of holistic, interdisciplinary and practice-based approaches in policy development processes,” she said.
The report also included official statistics and academic studies regarding juveniles dragged into delinquency in Türkiye.
Stating that juvenile delinquency has become a rising trend, the report stated that research on judicial incidents involving children and adolescents has generally developed in an upward direction.
According to the official data, the number of incidents involving children who came or were brought to security units due to an alleged crime rose from 133,829 in 2015 to 202,785 in 2024. The report stated, “Accordingly, an increase of approximately 51.5% occurred in the number of incidents involving children in the last 10-year period. This increase reveals that children’s contact with the judicial system has become more widespread.”
Among other suggestions in the report are mandatory hospitalization and treatment for children (if the court rules in favor) with anti-social behavior, disorders and substance addiction, effective public service models for psychological counseling and crisis intervention for at-risk families. Lawmakers suggested that families at risk should receive employment support and be included in income-generating programs, to prevent children from turning to crime to support themselves or their families.
The report also proposes the installation of camera systems in all schools and the introduction of electronic passes for entry to schools, in light of recent school shootings that have emerged as another threatening aspect of the phenomenon.
A suspected member of the Daesh terrorist group was killed on Tuesday, and his wife was wounded during a clash with Turkish special operations police conducting a raid near the capital, Ankara, authorities said.
The operation took place in the Sazağası neighborhood of Ankara’s Haymana district, where security forces moved to detain the suspects at their residence.
According to Turkish authorities, the suspects opened fire on police, triggering an exchange of gunfire. The male suspect, identified as 25-year-old Muhammed K., was killed at the scene, while his wife, identified only by the initials N.K., was captured alive after being wounded.
Investigators later determined that Muhammed K. had allegedly maintained contact with Daesh operatives through social media platforms and participated in online discussion groups linked to the terrorist group.
Moreover, authorities also said evidence collected during the investigation indicated that a Daesh operative identified as Ismael J.K.A. had allegedly communicated with Muhammed K. through TikTok and provided instructions related to potential activities in Türkiye.
Investigators also found that Muhammed K. operated two separate TikTok accounts. One account, reportedly bearing his own name, was allegedly used to join online chat groups associated with a publication linked to the Daesh.
A second account, operating under a nickname, was allegedly used to communicate with senior members of the group, according to the investigation.
Türkiye has carried out numerous operations against suspected Daesh members in recent years, targeting recruitment networks, financing activities and online propaganda channels. Authorities have repeatedly warned that social media platforms remain a key tool for communication and recruitment among extremist organizations.
Nimet Özdemir, a lawmaker who resigned from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), formally joined the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on Wednesday.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan welcomed Özdemir at the parliamentary group meeting of the party.
Özdemir, a business executive, had left former CHP ally Good Party (IP) for the main opposition in 2024. She has been a member of Parliament’s Türkiye-EU committee and the environment committee.
Two weeks ago, another former IP lawmaker, Ersin Beyaz, joined the AK Party, soon after his resignation from the opposition party.
The AK Party has seen a stream of new transfers in the past two years.
Since the 2024 elections, 15 mayors have left their parties and joined the AK Party. Most of them were formerly members of the CHP.
Turkish court has released on Tuesday its detailed reasoning for convicting three defendants over the twin bombings in the southern border town of Reyhanlı that killed 53 people in 2013, describing the attack as an operation directed by intelligence elements linked to the Bashar Assad regime.
In its written ruling, Ankara’s 9th High Criminal Court outlined the planning, financing and execution of the May 11, 2013, attack, one of the deadliest terrorist incidents in modern Turkish history.
The court said evidence presented during the trial showed that instructions for the attack were received directly from Syrian intelligence-linked operatives and were carried out with the involvement of members of the THKP-C/Acilciler militant group.
According to the ruling, the group expanded its activities near the Turkish border during the Syrian civil war and operated in coordination with pro-Assad militia groups in Syria’s Latakia region. The court said the group later focused on planning attacks in Türkiye, particularly in Hatay province.
The decision identified three defendants, Memet Gezer, Temir Dükancı and Cengiz Sertel, as key participants in the procurement, transportation and financing of explosives used in the attack.
Judges said the explosives were smuggled from Syria into Türkiye through five separate maritime shipments using fishing boats. The materials were allegedly concealed in sacks and transported under the supervision of individuals linked to Syrian intelligence under Bashar Assad.
The court found that the defendants acted in coordination with Syrian intelligence operatives and played central roles in preparing the attack. Testimony and evidence presented during the proceedings indicated that those involved were promised large sums of money in exchange for carrying out logistical and operational tasks.
The explosions killed 53 people, including five children, and caused extensive damage to the town. Court records showed that 912 homes, 891 businesses and 148 vehicles were damaged in the blasts.
The court sentenced Gezer, Dükancı and Sertel to 53 aggravated life sentences each one for attempting to undermine the unity and integrity of the Turkish state and 52 separate sentences for murder. The defendants were also handed additional prison terms totaling 3,921 years for other offenses.
Türkiye and Poland pledged to deepen cooperation on security, defense and European affairs on Tuesday, as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan highlighted the two countries’ key role in Europe’s security architecture and reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening ties with the European Union.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Polish President Karol Nawrocki, Erdoğan said the two NATO allies were working to enhance cooperation across a range of areas, describing Türkiye and Poland as indispensable partners in Europe’s security and defense architecture.
Erdoğan also thanked Warsaw for its support of Türkiye’s European Union accession bid and said it remained determined to advance relations with the bloc on the basis of mutual benefit and respect.
“As two NATO allies that play an indispensable role in Europe’s security and defense architecture, we are committed to strengthening our cooperation,” Erdoğan said.
He added that it had the will to further develop ties with the European Union while pursuing closer coordination with Poland on regional and strategic issues.
Turning to regional issues, he said: “One of the issues that must never be overshadowed in this context is the path toward lasting peace in Palestine and the Middle East.”
On Palestine, Erdoğan said Ankara expects Poland to maintain its support for a two-state solution, noting that Warsaw is among the countries recognizing the state of Palestine.
“We also thoroughly discussed the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine war and Iran-related issues during our meeting. We underlined the urgent need for peace in both areas,” he added.
Nawrocki, for his part, said cooperation between Türkiye and Poland carries strategic importance and that bilateral ties continue to expand across various fields, including the defense industry.
Nawrocki added that he discussed a range of issues with the Turkish president, particularly the Russia-Ukraine war, stressing that Poland and Türkiye play vital roles within NATO.
Polish president said trade between Poland and Türkiye has continued to grow despite the Ukraine war. He emphasized that both countries are responsible for defending the alliance’s flanks and described bilateral cooperation as strategically important, thanking Erdoğan for Türkiye’s support and adding that their ties help strengthen NATO.
He also highlighted defense cooperation as a key area, noting discussions on expanding collaboration between the two countries’ defense industries under a bilateral agreement signed last year.
Nawrocki said Polish soldiers use Bayraktar TB2 drones purchased from Türkiye and stressed Poland’s commitment to maintaining and extending its military presence at Incirlik Air Base.
Emphasizing the centuries-old friendship between Poland and Türkiye, the Polish leader said he will attend the upcoming NATO summit and congratulated Türkiye on hosting the alliance’s meeting in Ankara, expressing confidence that it would be productive.
Erdoğan welcomed Nawrocki with an official ceremony in Ankara.
Cavalry units escorted Nawrocki’s official vehicle from the avenue in front of the presidential complex to the protocol gate.
Erdoğan received Nawrocki at the main entrance, and as both leaders took their places at the ceremony area, a military band played the national anthems of Türkiye and Poland.
Following the ceremony, Erdoğan and Nawrocki moved on to a bilateral meeting. Erdoğan will also host an official dinner in honor of Nawrocki.
Also attending the ceremony were Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, National Defense Minister Yaşar Güler, Communications Director Burhanettin Duran, Chief of Staff Hasan Doğan, Presidential Secretary-General Hakkı Susmaz, chief foreign policy and security adviser Akif Çağatay Kılıç, Türkiye’s ambassador to Warsaw Rauf Alp Denktaş, and Ankara Governor Yakup Canbolat.
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