18 suspects arrested in FETÖ exam fraud probe
AUTHORITIES issued arrest warrants yesterday for 28 suspects linked to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) who helped other members cheat military exams and rise through the ranks faster. So far, 18 suspects have been detained while a manhunt is underway for the others.
The warrants are the conclusion of an investigation by the counterterrorism bureau of the Chief Prosecutor’s Office in the capital Ankara. The bureau sought the arrests of the suspects linked to the group blamed for the July 15, 2016 coup attempt in 12 provinces.
Five of the suspects are accused of fraud over a 2012 exam sat by noncommissioned Gendarmerie General Command officers for promotion. The suspects are accused of supplying questions and answers to fellow FETÖ members prior to the exam. Six other suspects are accused of helping FETÖ members rise through the ranks of the gendarmerie through a 2015 assessment carried out through interviews. Prosecutors say interviewees were assigned special codes, which differed from the generic numbers assigned to normal candidates, that allowed interviewers who were linked to the terrorist group to recognize them and give them passing grades. All six suspects were military officers who served as interviewers.
Another suspect is wanted for a similar scheme in a 2014 exam, again, for gendarmerie officers seeking promotion, while two others are wanted for similar irregularities in a 2012 admission exam for a military school that trains noncommissioned officers.
Other suspects are accused of either providing questions and answers to exams or helping interviewees in assessments of Land Forces Command and gendarmerie officers in 2010, 2014, 2015.
Helping its members infiltrate the army, FETÖ succeeded in dominating the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), or so it thought. In 2016, about three years after two disguised coup attempts through its infiltrators in the judiciary and law enforcement, it mobilized its military infiltrators for its first full-scale putsch bid. However, unprecedented public opposition to the coup, in a country that has suffered greatly from similar attempts in the past, thwarted their bid to seize power.
Since the coup attempt was quelled, Turkey has detained or arrested thousands of members of the terrorist group in addition to suspects accused of aiding it. The investigations launched prior to that fateful day and in its aftermath reveal how the terrorist group accelerated its infiltration attempts in the army and other entities linked to the state. Probes show that FETÖ, particularly in 2010s, engaged in a series of fraud in exams for admission to military schools and rank promotion as well as in exams for civil servants, as the public sector was the group’s main infiltration target.