The Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday issued detention warrants for 84 people working at ASELSAN, Turkey’s largest defense electronics company, connected to the country’s armed forces foundation, for alleged involvement in coup plotting. Police reportedly raided 86 locations in search of ASELSAN staff.
Meanwhile, a total of 31 academics working at Eskişehir-based Anatolian University have been detained over alleged links to the Gülen movement. The detentions took place across 5 provinces — Eskişehir, Konya, Trabzon, Bursa and Adana — as part of an investigation launched by the Eskişehir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. Among the detainees are 3 professors, 9 assistant professors, 15 research assistants, 4 computer operator.
In the currently ongoing post-coup purge, over 135,000 people, including thousands within the military, have been purged due to their real or alleged connection to the Gülen movement, according to a statement by the labor minister on Jan. 10. As of March 1, 93,248 people were being held without charge, with an additional 46,274 in pre-trial detention.
A total of 7,316 academics were dismissed, and 4,070 judges and prosecutors were purged over alleged coup involvement or terrorist links.
Also, a popular Twitter user with the user name “bıbıcımsıfırladım” has been arrested by an İstanbul court for posting tweets that praise the Gülen movement, which the Turkish government accuses of masterminding a coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
The Anadolu Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued on Feb. 22 a detention warrant for the Twitter user, “bıbıcımsıfırladım,” who was identified as Serkan Sedat Güray, a teacher working at Üsküdar İMKB Technical Anatolian High School.
After remaining under police custody for almost two weeks, Güray was sent to prison on Wednesday on accusation of membership in an “armed terrorist organization.” (SCF with turkishminute.com & turkeypurge.com) March 9, 2017
