Turkey orders detention of 102 suspects including military members over Gülen links: report

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Turkish prosecutors in the last three days have ordered the detention of 102 suspects, including active duty soldiers, as part of a post-coup crackdown targeting alleged followers of the Gülen movement, which is accused of orchestrating a 2016 coup attempt despite its strong denial of any involvement, Turkish Minute reported.

The Konya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday issued detention warrants for 14 former police academy students over alleged Gülen links.

According to the state-run Anadolu news agency, six of the suspects were detained.

On the same day the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office ordered the detention of 31 suspects in an investigation into the movement.

The suspects are accused of using ByLock, a now-defunct smart phone application that is believed by Turkish authorities to have been used among Gülen followers.

The Anadolu report said eight of the suspects, including four former public servants, were detained.

Turkey fired more than 130,000 civil servants in the aftermath of the coup attempt.

On Wednesday police in Gaziantep province took 12 suspects into custody as part of an investigation into the alleged military wing of the movement.

Three of the detainees were active duty soldiers, the report indicated.

Meanwhile, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday issued detention warrants for 25 active duty and former noncommissioned officers over alleged Gülen ties.

Nineteen of the suspects were active duty soldiers, while one was purged by the government, four were retired and one had resigned from the military.

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office also ordered the detention of 20 former and active duty gendarmes on Thursday over Gülen links.

Anadolu said four of them were active duty, 15 had been dismissed from the service and one was retired.

At least 14 of them were detained in police operations in 12 Turkish provinces.

Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said on July 15, on the fourth anniversary of the failed putsch, that a total of 282,790 people have been detained on coup-related charges, with 94,975 of them arrested, since the coup attempt.

In a written statement, he also said 25,912 people among the arrestees were still in jail.

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