Turkish intelligence nabs wanted FETO fugitive abroad, brings back home

The Turkish intelligence on Thursday brought a wanted fugitive member of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) back to Türkiye after they captured him abroad, security sources said.

FETO fugitive Koray Vural was arrested in Tajikistan, where he went under the instructions of the terror group and worked in organizing its activities in Central Asia and Tajikistan, the sources said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to media.

It was found that Vural, who frequently went to Pennsylvania, the US, during his stay in Tajikistan and received instructions from FETO leader Fethullah Gulen, made plans to flee Tajikistan after Emsal Koc, another fugitive FETO member, was brought to Türkiye, the sources added.

Vural was on the orange category of the Turkish Interior Ministry's color-coded list of wanted terrorists for being a member of FETO, the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Türkiye.

The ministry’s list for wanted terrorists is divided into five categories, with red as the most wanted, followed by blue, green, orange, and gray.

FETO and its US-based ringleader Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016 in Türkiye, in which 252 people were killed and 2,734 wounded.

Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.

Since 1999, Gulen has lived in self-exile in the US near Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania.