At least 161,751 people were detained and 50,334 people were arrested in Turkey in the framework of the Turkish government’s massive post-coup witch hunt campaign targeting alleged members of the Gülen movement since the controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
According to statistics reported by state-run Anadolu news agency by basing on information taken from the officials of Turkey’s Justice Minsitry, during last 11 months 161,751 people were detained or investigated over their alleged links to the faith-based civic Gülen movement. It was also decided that no need for a legal investigation for 3,334 of them. While 50,334 of these people from various background and professions were arrested and put behind the bars, 55,495 people were released, but their trials are still pending.
In the framework of the government’s massive post-coup witch hunt campaign targeting alleged members of the Gülen movement, also, detention warrants were issued for 7,605 people including 218 judges and prosecutors, 6 members of the Council of State, 26 members of the Court of Cassation, 26 members of the Military Court of Appeal, 147 military officers, 386 police officers, 3 deputy governors, 8 district governors, 6,810 public officials,
Among those who were tried without arrest are 1 member of the Council of State, 2 members of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), 11 members of the Court of Cassation, 1,456 judges and prosecutors, 4,230 military officers, 6,272 police officers, 11 governors, 36 deputy governors, 77 district governors, 43,399 civilians and public servants.
The military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 killed over 240 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.
Fethullah 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.
June 13, 2017
