Turkish police detained 24 individuals on Tuesday over alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement in a series of coordinated house raids in seven provinces, the state-run TRT Haber news website reported.
Detention warrants were issued by Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s office. The accusations against the detainees include cheating in public service entrance exams back in 2010 and 2012 and using encrypted messaging app ByLock.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by the late Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since corruption investigations revealed in 2013 implicated then-Prime Minister Erdoğan as well as some of his family members and his inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement a terrorist organization and began targeting its supporters. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following an abortive putsch in 2016, which he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement have consistently denied involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
ByLock, once widely available online, has been considered a secret tool of communication among supporters of the movement since a coup attempt on July 15, 2016, despite the lack of any evidence that ByLock messages were related to the abortive putsch.
Since the coup attempt, more than 705,172 people have been investigated on terrorism related charges due to their alleged links to the movement. There are at least 13,251 people in prison who are being held in pretrial detention or convicted of terrorism charges in Gülen-linked trials.
In addition to the thousands who were jailed, scores of other Gülen movement followers had to flee Turkey to avoid the government crackdown.
