Turkish authorities on Saturday 23 detained people, including business owners and tradespeople, in raids across four provinces over allegations that they provided financial support to families linked to the faith-based Gülen movement, TR724 reported.
The detentions, ordered by the Malatya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, were carried out by counterterrorism police in operations centered in Malatya and extending to Istanbul, Tekirdağ and Erzincan. After three days of questioning, courts ordered 10 suspects jailed pending trial, while 13 were released under judicial supervision.
One detainee, a young woman whose brother had sent her money, was allegedly threatened while in custody, with officers telling her to have her brother surrender in exchange for her release, according to TR724.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has targeted followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by the late Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since corruption investigations in December 2013 implicated him as well as some members of his family and inner circle. He dismissed the probes as a Gülenist conspiracy and later 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.
According to the latest figures from the justice ministry, more than 126,000 people have been convicted for alleged links to the movement since 2016, with 11,085 still in prison. Legal proceedings are ongoing for over 24,000 individuals, while another 58,000 remain under active investigation nearly a decade later.
In addition to the thousands who were jailed, scores of other Gülen movement followers had to flee Turkey to avoid the government crackdown.
