MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A criminal court in the Turkish province of Hatay ruled that the Fethullah Gulen Terrorist Organization (FETO), which Ankara believes to be behind the July coup attempt, did not exist, local media reported Sunday.
Judges unanimously decided that there is no officially designated terrorist organization such as FETO, Turkish Minute newspaper reported, adding that the decision may set a precedent for similar cases where people are being accused of having links to the organization.
On Wednesday, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said up to 70,000 people had been investigated in the country for links to self-exiled Islamic cleric Fetullah Gulen and the so-called Fethullahist Terrorist Organization/Parallel State Structure (FETO) suspected of masterminding the attempted overthrow.
