A total of 65 active-duty and former military officers have been arrested in Turkey as part of a sweeping operation targeting people accused of links to the faith-based Gülen movement, Turkish Minute reported.
The arrests are part of a long-running crackdown on followers of Fethullah Gülen, an Islamic cleric who lived in exile in the United States until his death in October 2024. The Turkish government accuses the Gülen movement of orchestrating a failed coup on July 15, 2016, a charge the movement strongly denies. Gülen and his supporters consistently rejected allegations of involvement in the coup or any affiliation with terrorism.
The arrests took place on Friday following coordinated raids earlier in the week across 31 provinces, led by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. As part of the operation, 95 suspects including lieutenants, majors, lieutenant colonels, colonels and captains serving in various branches of the Turkish Armed Forces were detained. The operation also targeted eight individuals previously dismissed or retired from the military.
Following police custody and questioning, 65 of the 95 detainees were arrested by criminal courts. Twenty-eight others were released under judicial supervision, including travel bans and regular reporting obligations, while two were put under house arrest.
Among those arrested was a colonel who reportedly served as an aide to the defense minister.
According to the prosecutors, the suspects have used pay phones and fixed lines in a manner consistent with the Gülen movement’s alleged covert communication practices, a method Turkish authorities describe as key to identifying members in the military.
In a similar operation in May, 62 active-duty officers were detained over their alleged links to the Gülen movement, 61 of whom were subsequently arrested.
While Turkey designated the movement as a terrorist group in 2016, the designated is not recognized by the United States, the European Union or major international human rights organizations.
The latest arrests come amid renewed government pledges to intensify efforts against alleged Gülen followers following the cleric’s death. Human rights groups have long criticized the scope of the post-coup purge, which has led to the dismissal of more than 130,000 civil servants and over 24,000 military personnel.
