Nine women have been detained as part of an operation targeting the alleged followers of the faith-based Gülen movement in an operation based in the western province of İzmir.
The detentions took place following simultaneous raids in 10 locations in Eskişehir, Manisa, Şanlıurfa, Burdur, İstanbul, Çanakkale, Antalya, Uşak, Kayseri as well as İzmir on Friday.
Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15 that killed over 240 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement despite the lack of any evidence to that effect.
Although the Gülen movement strongly denies having any role in the putsch, the government accuses it of having masterminded the foiled coup. Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, called for an international investigation into the coup attempt, 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 statement from Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu on April 2, a total of 113,260 people have been detained as part of investigations into the Gülen movement since the July 15 coup attempt, while 47,155 were put into pre-trial detention. (turkishminute.com) April 21, 2017
