Turkish authorities detained 208 people on Tuesday for alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced.
Yerlikaya said on X that suspects have been detained in police operations across 47 provinces, including Ankara, Antalya, İstanbul and İzmir.
The detainees were accused of providing financial support to the movement as well as contacting members of the movement via encrypted communication apps.
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 members of his family and his inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began pursuing its followers. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following an abortive putsch in 2016, which he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
Since the coup attempt, at least 705,172 people have been investigated on terrorism or coup-related charges due to their alleged links to the movement. There are currently at least 13,251 people in prison as a result of pretrial detention or convictions related to terrorism in Gülen-linked trials.
