A Turkish court on Thursday ordered the arrest of five people in Edirne province over alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement, the state-run TRT Haber reported.
Police stopped two vehicles on the Edirne-Keşan road and detained eight people, including six accused of links to the Gülen movement who were allegedly preparing to leave the country, along with the drivers.
The court ordered the arrest of five people identified only by the initials B.A., Z.S., H.G., A.G. and G.G., while the drivers and one of the detainees were released under judicial supervision.
Authorities did not provide further details about the evidence cited in the arrests.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has targeted followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by the late Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since corruption investigations in December 2013 implicated him as well as some members of his family and inner circle.
He dismissed the probes as a Gülenist conspiracy and later designated the movement a terrorist organization in May 2016, intensifying a sweeping crackdown after a coup attempt in July of the same year that he accused Gülen of orchestrating. The movement denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
According to the latest figures from the justice ministry, more than 126,000 people have been convicted of alleged links to the movement since 2016, with 11,085 still in prison. Legal proceedings are ongoing for over 24,000 individuals, while another 58,000 remain under active investigation nearly a decade later.
In addition to the thousands who were jailed, many other Gülen movement followers had to flee Turkey to avoid the government crackdown.
