A total of 386 people were detained across Turkey as part of a massive post-coup witch hunt targeting the alleged members of the Gülen movement which the government accuses of masterminding the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, over the past week.
Turkey’s Interior Ministry said in a written statement on Monday that 386 were detained over their alleged links to the movement on between June 5 and 12. Among them is also Taner Kılıç, the chair of Amnestry International’s branch in Turkey.
The ministry also said another 38 were detained on charges of terrorist propaganda on social media.
Meanwhile, law enforcement took into custody 12 people on alleged ties to what the government says leftist terrorist organizations.
A military coup attempt on July 15 killed over 240 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with Turkey’s autocratic President Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.
Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
According to a report by the state-run Anadolu news agency on May 28, 154,694 individuals have been detained and 50,136 have been jailed due to alleged Gülen links since the failed coup attempt. (SCF with turkeypurge.com) June 12, 2017
