Turkish police detained 35 individuals on Tuesday in action that took place across 12 provinces as part of an ongoing crackdown on alleged members of the faith-based Gülen movement, the Turkish media reported.
Former military officers dismissed in the aftermath of a coup attempt in 2016 were among those detained.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by the late Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since corruption investigations revealed in 2013 implicated then-Prime Minister Erdoğan as well as some of his family members and his inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement a terrorist organization and began targeting its supporters. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following the abortive putsch in 2016, which he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement have consistently denied involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
Following the failed coup, the Turkish government declared a state of emergency and carried out a massive purge of state institutions under the pretext of an anti-coup fight. Over 130,000 public servants, including 4,156 judges and prosecutors as well over 24,000 members of the armed forces, were summarily removed from their jobs for alleged membership in or relationships with “terrorist organizations” by emergency decree-laws subject to neither judicial nor parliamentary scrutiny.
In addition to the thousands who were jailed, scores of other Gülen movement followers had to flee Turkey to avoid the government crackdown.
Since the coup attempt, more than 705,172 people have been investigated on terrorism or coup-related charges due to their alleged links to the movement. There are at least 13,251 people in prison who are being held in pretrial detention or convicted of terrorism in Gülen-linked trials.
