Turkish police arrest 17 suspects over failed coup

Turkish Police Officers

ISTANBUL, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Turkish police have detained 17 suspects in northwestern Türkiye over their alleged ties with a network believed to be behind a defeated coup in 2016, local media reported on Tuesday.

Gendarmerie command units rounded up the suspects when they tried to illegally flee to Greece from the border province of Edirne, according to the Ihlas news agency.

There were arrest warrants for four suspects on charges of belonging to the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen and the Syrian Kurdish group, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), said the agency.

It also added that 13 other suspects were under investigation for their alleged membership in these groups, listed as terrorist organizations by Türkiye.

The Turkish government accused Gulen and his network of masterminding the coup in July 2016, in which more than 250 people were killed.

Ankara, meanwhile, views the PYD as an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, which has been waging insurgent activities against the Turkish government for more than three decades.