60-year-old Turkish villager detained after questioning gov’t coup narrative

Murat Gülen, a 60-year-old villager and a relative of US-based Turkish-Muslim scholar Fethullah Gülen was detained after he was revealed questioning the government’s narrative over the controversial July 15, 2016 coup attempt during a video interview by the pro-government İhlas news agency (İHA).

On Thursday, İHA distributed the video recording, filmed in Korucuk village of Erzurum province, Fethullah Gülen’s hometown, and media reported the same day that Murat Gülen was taken into police custody for questioning.

Turkey survived a controversial military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that killed 249 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.

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.

Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants since July 15. Turkey’s Justice Ministry announced on July 13 that 50,510 people have been arrested and 169,013 have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup. (SCF with turkeypurge.com)

https://youtu.be/Mw9ML0BqRrY?t=14

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