Turkish government detained 198 people in Muğla province and neighbouring districts over their alleged links to the Gülen movement as they were trying to flee from Turkey to Greece in 2017.
According to a report by state-run Anadolu news agency, 198 Turkish nationals were held by Turkish Coast Guards, police and gendarmerie forces in the year who too were trying to escape to Europe using illegal routes. A source said intense measures against illegal migration throughout the Aegean would continue in 2018.
Bodrum, an Aegean resort in southwestern Muğla province, is being patrolled day and night by security units as it is one of the closest links to the Greek island of Kos.
Meanwhile, Turkish border troops detained a person, H.P., near the Pazarkule border crossing in the Edirne province on Wednesday as he was trying to pass Greek border illegally. It was reported that Turkish government has issued a detention warrant for him over his alleged links to the Gülen movement.
Also on Tuesday, at least 7 people were detained ın Edirne province over their alleged links to the Gülen movement. It was reported that 7 people were apprehended in a vehicle near northwestern Edirne province’s Havsa district by anti-trafficking teams.
Many people tried to escape Turkey under the rule autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan via illegal ways as Turkish government cancelled their passports like thousands of others.
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 Interior Minister announced on December 12, 2017 that 55,665 people have been arrested. Previously, on December 13, 2017, The Justice Ministry announced that 169,013 people have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup.
