Turkey wrapped up the week with surprising developments on cases related to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). An army captain who was injured by coup plotters while guarding the Land Forces Commander during the July 15, 2016 coup attempt came forward as a member of the group himself. Meanwhile, more people were released Friday after prosecutors announced that some defendants in FETÖ-related cases were victims of a conspiracy by the group over Bylock, an encrypted messaging app exclusively used by FETÖ. The acquitted suspects were directed into the app unknowingly when they downloaded otherwise innocuous apps to their cellphones and prosecutors say more than 11,000 people detained for Bylock use were victims of this plot devised by FETÖ to vindicate itself.

In the capital Ankara, Capt. Burak Akın walked into the headquarters of the city's police on Dec. 27 and surrendered to the authorities, saying he was a member of the terrorist group. The incident, which was reported Friday, was a shocking revelation as Akın was actually among the soldiers who resisted the coup attempt by FETÖ's infiltrators in the military on July 15. Akın was injured in the leg when putschists opened fire while abducting Salih Zeki Çolak, the former Land Forces Commander served as a guard. The details are scarce about why he turned himself in more than one year after the putsch bid that killed 249 people.

Some newspapers reported that he told police he decided to surrender when FETÖ "exerted pressure" upon him. Anadolu Agency (AA) reported that Akın, who currently serves as a guard of Çolak's successor, Yaşar Güler, gave police the names of "imams" who acted as his handlers for FETÖ. "Imam" is the name given to the terrorist group's point men directing the actions of its infiltrators in the judiciary, military, law enforcement and any other institution in which it planted secret followers. AA also reported that Akın was not a Bylock user unlike many other members of the group, indicating that he might be among the well-disguised infiltrators of the group in the army. The U.S.-based leader of the group, Fetullah Gülen, the prime suspect in all the coup cases, is known for his advice to military infiltrators to hide themselves by pretending to severe all ties to the group. FETÖ has long disguised itself as a religious charity movement attracting followers, before moving to seize power first in 2013 and then in 2016.

Elsewhere, a former lawmaker, a journalist and several other suspects were released late Thursday and Friday after it was found that they were victims of the terrorist group's Bylock "conspiracy."

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office announced Wednesday that FETÖ installed the ByLock messaging app on 11,480 smartphones without user permission to mask the real users. A statement said the investigation found that those users had been directed to ByLock IPs involuntarily through apps developed by the organization's software developers to make it harder to detect the real ByLock users and muddle the fight against FETÖ. Ankara Chief Prosecutor Yüksel Kocaman said the plot to associate users with ByLock was carried out using a software called "Mor Beyin" (Purple Brain) and was developed by Kemalettin Cengiz Erbakırcı, a former employee of the state-run Scientific and Technological Research Council (TÜBİTAK), adding that he was wanted for FETÖ links and had apparently fled the country four days after the 2016 coup attempt.

Şükrü Önder, a former lawmaker from the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), was among those released after it was found that he was among those who unwittingly downloaded Bylock. Önder told reporters Friday that the authorities "corrected an error," adding that he would meet Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül who phoned him to wish him well after his release. In Istanbul, a journalist working for İhlas News Agency and an accountant for a newspaper who were detained earlier for Bylock use, were among those released. In Istanbul only, 201 people wrongfully linked to ByLock, were released. Media outlets reported that the government would soon release a decree for some among the released to return to their posts in the public sector.

It was only after the 2016 coup attempt that the public became aware of the ByLock investigations, and since then, tens of thousands have been detained or arrested for links to the terrorist group, sometimes with the only piece of evidence being ByLock on their phones and corresponding with other members of the group via the app. In some FETÖ cases, it was discovered that users were unwittingly linked to ByLock when they downloaded music apps and apps on religious knowledge. The authorities are still sifting through millions of messages relayed via the app to determine the suspects with authentic links to FETÖ. Some deciphered messages include instructions to group members from Fetullah Gülen. Although Gülen did not personally write any messages, he sent them through his point men over ByLock, the investigations show.