Nearly a decade after Turkey’s failed July 2016 coup attempt, authorities are still conducting large-scale operations targeting alleged followers of the network Ankara blames for the putsch within the Turkish Armed Forces. On 18 November 2025, prosecutors ordered the detention of 22 people in a probe into what officials describe as the group’s clandestine structure inside the Land Forces Command.
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office (Ankara Başsavcılığı) said the operation targets the “mahrem yapılanma,” or secret structure, of the group within the Land Forces, according to a written statement cited by the news outlet Kısa Dalga.
In its announcement, the Terror Crimes Investigation Bureau of the prosecutor’s office said the suspects are believed to have maintained contact with so‑called “civilian imams” — alleged coordinators of the network — by using payphone-style fixed lines in public venues such as kiosks, corner shops and small markets around Ankara. Call records from these prepaid landlines were analyzed as part of the investigation, officials said.
Among the 22 suspects are five active-duty officers — at the ranks of colonel, captain and first lieutenant — and three serving non-commissioned officers. The list also includes two dismissed majors, four retired colonels, two retired NCOs, two dismissed NCOs, three currently serving public employees, identified as an engineer and teachers, and one private-sector worker. Detention orders were issued to be carried out simultaneously in nine provinces, with Ankara as the coordination center.
Police teams from the Ankara Police Department’s Counterterrorism Branch began raids early on 18 November to apprehend the suspects. The prosecutor’s office said efforts to locate and detain all those named in the warrants are continuing, and that once in custody, suspects will be brought to Ankara for questioning and further judicial procedures.
Turkey’s government accuses the movement led by US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen of orchestrating the 2016 coup attempt, in which more than 250 people were killed. Authorities refer to the network as the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), a designation not universally shared by Turkey’s Western allies. Gülen has denied involvement in the putsch.
Since 2016, more than 100,000 people have been dismissed from public service and tens of thousands jailed on accusations of links to the Gülen movement, with the armed forces among the institutions most affected. The latest operation underscores that, nearly ten years on, Turkish prosecutors and security forces continue to pursue alleged members of what they describe as the group’s “secret” cells within the military.
Rights groups have criticized the breadth and duration of post-coup purges, arguing that due process safeguards have been weakened and that some terrorism cases rely heavily on digital traces such as phone records or use of specific messaging apps. Turkish officials insist that the measures are necessary to dismantle what they say is a deeply embedded, covert organization that still poses a threat to state institutions.