Turkish authorities have detained 32 people in operations across several provinces over alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement, Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said Wednesday.
The operations were part of three investigations launched by prosecutors in Eskişehir and İzmir that targeted 34 people. It was not immediately clear whether any of the detainees had been released or brought before a court.
In Eskişehir, authorities detained nine of the 10 people included in an investigation into payments made through a US-based company allegedly linked to the Gülen movement. Prosecutors launched the investigation on suspicion that the payments, which were related to food products exported from Turkey, were connected to the movement.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has targeted the faith-based Gülen movement, inspired by Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, who died in 2024, since corruption investigations in December 2013 implicated Erdoğan as well as some members of his family and inner circle. He dismissed the probes as a Gülenist conspiracy and designated the movement as a terrorist organization in May 2016, intensifying a sweeping crackdown after a coup attempt in July of the same year that he accused Gülen of orchestrating. The movement denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
In a separate investigation conducted by the İzmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, authorities detained 21 people across four provinces over allegations that they were involved in the Gülen movement’s ongoing activities.
Prosecutors said the detainees’ names appeared in digital materials seized from people allegedly linked to the movement. Police also seized digital materials and documents during the raids.
In a third investigation also led by prosecutors in İzmir, authorities detained two people in İzmir and Aydın over allegations of membership in a terrorist organization. A third person included in the investigation was reported to be abroad.
Prosecutors cited ByLock messages, records from the now-closed Bank Asya and phone records as evidence of alleged links to the movement. ByLock is an encrypted messaging app once widely available on Apple’s App Store and Google Play that Turkish authorities claim was used as a secret communication tool by Gülen supporters.
In a landmark 2023 ruling in Yüksel Yalçınkaya v. Türkiye, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found that convictions based on ByLock use and other alleged Gülen-linked activities, such as having an account at a movement-affiliated bank, violated the rights to a fair trial, no punishment without law and freedom of association.
Gürlek said the government would continue operations against the Gülen movement and would not tolerate any of its activities.
According to the latest figures from the justice ministry, more than 127,000 people have been convicted of alleged links to the movement since 2016, with 10,485 still in prison and legal proceedings ongoing against 83,404 individuals.
