Turkish gendarme detains 6 people as trying to flee from Turkey to Greece

Turkish border security guards have detained 6 people who were allegedly trying to flee from Turkey to Greece on the border zone over their alleged links to the Gülen movement on Sunday.

It was reported that Turkish gendarme have realised a group 8 people including children in border zone. The detainees have reportedly included M.Y. a dismissed İstanbul University academic, H.H.H., a dismissed academic from İstanbul Technical University, a non-commissioned military officer who was dismissed from Turkish Air Forces, dismissed police chiefs S.A. and O.A., and Y.Y., a teacher who used to work for a school closed over its affiliation with the Gülen movement.

As the 6 adults were detained and taken to gendarme station the children were handed over to their relatives. It was claimed that the detainees are alleged users of mobile phone messaging application ByLock.

Turkish authorities believe that ByLock is a communication tool among the alleged followers of the Gülen movement. Tens of thousands of people, including civil servants, police officers, soldiers, businessmen and even housewives, have either been dismissed or arrested for using ByLock since the failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

Many people tried to escape Turkey under the rule autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan via illegal ways as Turkish government cancelled their passports like thousands of others.

Meanwhile, at least 8 more people have been detained in different provinces including capital Ankara, İstanbul, Çorum and Samsun on Sunday over their alleged links to the Gülen movement as part of a probe launched by Tokat Chief Prosecutor’s Office targeting the alleged movement related on-duty military officers in Turkish Armed Forces.

Turkey survived a controversial military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that killed 249 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.

Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.

Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants since July 15, 2016. Turkey’s Justice Ministry announced on July 13 that 50,510 people have been arrested and 169,013 have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup.

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