Two people who were being sought by authorities following convictions over alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement have been arrested in Turkey’s Aydın province and remanded to prison to begin serving their sentences, Turkish media reported.
A woman identified only by the initials S. Ç., 38, and a man identified as O. T., 46, were detained in separate police operations carried out in Nazilli on Friday.
S. Ç. had been sentenced to more than seven years on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization,” while O. T. had received a sentence of more than 12 years on charges of “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order,” in connection with a coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
Both individuals were transported to prison to begin serving their sentences after the courts issued the arrest orders.
Following the coup attempt, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan immediately accused the Gülen movement, inspired by the late US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, of orchestrating the plot and significantly expanded an already underway crackdown on the movement’s supporters.
Erdoğan’s campaign against the movement began after corruption investigations in December 2013 implicated him as well as members of his family and inner circle, which he dismissed as a conspiracy, and formally designated it as a terrorist organization in May 2016. The movement strongly 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, scores of other Gülen movement followers had to flee Turkey to avoid the government crackdown.
