The Turkish Interior Ministry announced on Monday that 947 people have been detained in the week of October 9-October 15 as part of Turkish government’s massive post-coup witch hunt campaign targeting the alleged members of the Gülen movement. The ministry had announced on Oct. 9 that 809 people had been detained the previous week.
The Interior Ministry has also announced that the government has investigated 745 social media accounts along the last week and legal processes were launched for 362 people over their alleged propaganda on the behalf of the alleged terror organisations and insults targeting the state officials including Turkish autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Meanwhile, police have detained 7 people in Balıkesir province on Sunday following the detention warrants issued by Balıkesir Chief Prosecutor’s Office for them over their alleged links to the Gülen movement.
Turkey survived a controversial military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that killed 249 people. Immediately after the putsch the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Erdoğan pinned the blame on the 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’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. Turkish government has also suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants after the coup attempt.
